Apparently, the Birds players agree with the majority of fans who have voted in our online poll: Nick Markakis does have a realistic shot at Rookie of the Year.
-O's want honor for Markakis (The Sun)
"He definitely [is getting overlooked], probably because he had such a slow start," Orioles closer Chris Ray said. "You look at this numbers, he definitely has to be the top rookie position player. His numbers are outstanding. The only person I canthink of that could beat him is [
-Meanwhile, from CBS Sportsline:
OF Nick Markakis hit 10 home runs in August, the most by an Orioles rookie in a month. He's hitting .405 (30-for-74) his last 19 games.
"He deserves consideration for (rookie of the year) especially if he has another month like August," Manager Sam Perlozzo said. "He was sort of off everybody's radar until August."
-Baseballistic puts both Nick Markakis and Chris Ray in the running for Rookie of the Year.
-The Baseball Page ranks Markakis and MLB’s “Rookie Phenoms” No. 4 among its nine biggest surprises of the 2005 season.
-No surprise here, but the Most Valuable Network is casting its ballot for Markakis:
“And finally let me get my daily Nick Markakis love in. He slugged another pair of hits on Sunday. That’s a 5 game hit streak for the rookie, with 4 of those games have 2 hits each. All of this hitting has his average up to .301
He’s a rookie in the AL East and he’s hitting .301.
That’s disgusting. This kid is as real as they get. Look for him in rookie of the year voting. He’s got a real shot if they ignore all the pitchers.”
-Finally, here's a chance to see how much the perception of Markakis - as well as his stats - has changed since June. In evaluating the Rookie of the Year candidates, Baseball Notebook wrote of Markakis: “Clearly, this 22-year-old is more of a long-term project.”
2 comments:
Markakis is definitely for real, the problem is, he's a rookie at the wrong time. If Liriano, Papelbon, and Verlander weren't in the league this season, Markakis would undoubtedly be in the top-3, possibly the ROTY.
Correct me if I'm wrong on this, but I think the only starting AL East outfielder with a higher BA than Markakis is Manny Ramirez. That's VERY impressive for a rookie in a high-powered division.
Now that Sam Perlozzo is finally recognizing Markakis' potential and batting him 3rd, Nick's power numbers might go up, and he should see even more pitches to hit.
Over a full season of starting, I think Markakis should be around .315/.375/.475 next season with 20-25HR's and about 90-100RBIs with 10-15SBs.
He could be one of the pieces of the puzzle that the O's can use when they finally get good enough to make a run at the AL East/Wildcard.
Thanks for the comment, Daniel. And thanks for the solid report on Ray and Markakis on Baseballistic.
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