Overheard and Understood: NL Packed With Standout Rookies

Mike Stanton has 20 home runs. Tyler Colvin has 19. Ike Davis has 18.

Ian Desmond has 58 RBI, 27 doubles and 15 stolen bases. Neil Walker has a .306 average and had an 18-game hitting streak. John Axford has 21 saves. Jon Niese has nine wins, a 3.85 ERA and 134 strikeouts. Jonny Venters has a 1.86 ERA and .188 average allowed in 67 appearances.

None of those players has a chance to be National League Rookie of the Year.

And we never even mentioned Stephen Strasburg.

Sure, the AL Cy Young Award choice is tough. But that's going to essentially come down to a debate on the value of wins for pitchers.

Picking the NL Rookie of the Year is the much knottier problem.

First, voters (32 of them, two per NL city) have to compare pitchers with hitters. And then they have to decide between players with stronger statistics who were called up later and those who have been up all year.

It's comparing apples to oranges to grapefruits.

But what a great rookie class.

Some want to characterize the race as being between Giants catcher Buster Posey and Cardinals pitcher Jaime Garcia. But at least three other players deserve serious consideration for the top of the ballot.

Here's a look, in alphabetical order, at who should be the five main contenders:

• Starlin Castro. The Cubs shortstop came up May 7 and hit immediately. He is fifth in the NL -- among all qualifiers, not just rookies -- with a .312 average. And since July 10, he has the most hits and doubles of player in baseball. Castro's 41 hits in August were most for a Cubs rookie in any month since Ernie Banks in August 1954.

• Garcia. His 2.70 ERA ranks sixth in the NL, and Garcia leads all NL rookies in wins (13-8 record), innings (163 1/3), winning percentage and starts (28). No other rookie has stayed in his team's rotation from beginning to end.

• Jason Heyward. Similar to Garcia, Heyward is the only rookie to play regularly for a contender since Opening Day, when he was installed as the Braves' right fielder. He leads NL rookies in on-base percentage (.400), runs (80) and walks (78), is second in RBI (68) and sixth in slugging (.479). Heyward was NL Rookie of the Month for April and May and fans voted Heyward to start the All-Star Game (he was out with a sore thumb). Bonus points for his .324 average with runners in scoring position, ninth-best among all NL players, which includes a .360 mark with two outs.

• Posey. If he had been called up before late May, he'd have a much better chance at the award -- and maybe the Giants would have a better chance at the playoffs. But while Posey has added needed production to the team's lineup, San Francisco insists he needed the experience calling games at Triple-A. Thus, while Posey leads Heyward in average (.324 to .288) and slugging (.509 to .479), Posey has played almost two months fewer than Heyward. Posey also has the longest hitting streak in the NL this year, 21 games in July.

• Gaby Sanchez. The great mystery is why the Marlins' first baseman gets overlooked in these discussions. Like Heyward, he has been an every-day player from the start. Thus he leads the field in RBI (76), hits (141), total bases (233) and doubles (35). His "rate" statistics aren't bad either: .284 average, .346 on-base percentage, .461 slugging. If Sanchez wins, he will be the fourth Marlin in eight years to be Rookie of the Year.

Remember, this isn't the Best Prospect award. It is supposed to go to the rookie who had the best season. But what's the best season, playing at a high level all year, or a higher level for part of the year? Or pitching?

Makes me wish I had an AL Cy Young Award vote instead.

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Around the Majors

• There has been little doubt for a while the Mets will not bring back Jerry Manuel as manager, and a source confirmed reports that general manager Omar Minaya is likely out as well. Ownership seems to be leaning toward hiring an experienced GM, as they are not inclined to promote assistant GM John Ricco, and Wally Backman -- a popular ex-Met who was nearly manager of the Diamondbacks before the team discovered some off-field issues he didn't disclose -- as manager.

• Boston manager Terry Francona reminded us not to put stock in the performance of September call-ups.

In 2006, Dustin Pedroia came up to the Red Sox in late August and hit .191 in 31 games, with a .561 OPS.

"He didn't look too good," Francona said. "All I heard was, 'This kid's so good. This kid's so good.' All he did was make outs. [But] what everybody in the organization said was true. He's a tremendous player."

The next season, Pedroia was AL Rookie of the Year. The season after that, MVP.

• Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera has 30 intentional walks, four shy of the AL record set by Ted Williams in 1957. Toronto's John Olerud had 33 in 1993.

• With 120 strikeouts, Cubs closer Carlos Marmol has a chance to become the 13th reliever ever with 135 or more.

• Baltimore has the majors' best extra-inning record, 12-3. Which makes the Orioles 44-85 in all other games.

• Since Aug. 8, the Athletics have 19 home runs and Jose Bautista has 12.

• When the Rangers defeated the Yankees on Friday and Saturday, it marked the Yankees' first back-to-back walkoff losses since May 15-16, 2001, at Oakland. Texas manager Ron Washington was then the A's third-base coach.

• Minnesota's Jim Thome became one of five players in the past 90 years to homer in four straight games at age 40 or older, joining Barry Bonds in 2005, Carlton Fisk in 1988, Graig Nettles in 1986 and Tony Perez in 1985.

• Since 2004, when Petco Park opened, there have been seven 1-0 games in San Diego and no more than three in any other stadium.

• Angels rookie center fielder Peter Bourjos has eight assists in 32 games since being called up. He had six in Triple-A before the promotion. And his father, Chris Bourjos, had none in his 13-game career with the 1980 Giants.

• To keep things loose, Rays manager Joe Maddon chooses outré clothing for an occasional trip.

Maddon has designated the final road games of the regular season the "Loud Pants Rowland Road Trip."

The players will be required to wear loud pants -- think John Daly, Maddon said. And the event is named after Clarence "Pants" Rowland, manager of the 1917 White Sox, whom the Rays hope to join as the only team to get no-hit twice and still win the World Series.