We're more than halfway through the season, and the leading candidates for the coveted Pat Listach Rookie of the Year Award have begun to emerge. The award, first presented in 1998, recognizes the league's top performer in his first year of league eligibility. This week two former DMBL stars will consider the starter and reliever candidates; next week we'll look at infielders, followed the following week by outfielders and catchers.

For most rookies, just sticking in the rotation as a rookie starter is a success story. But last year, Carolina's Barry Zito became the first starting pitcher to win the Listach, going 13-6 with a 3.47 ERA, 12.9 R/9 and 158 Ks in 194 IP. This year, several wunderkinder might have even better credentials to claim the ROY:

Mark Buehrle (8-5, 2.56 ERA, 8.9 R/9) already has gone where no rookie has gone before: The 22-year-old southpaw was the Morris Division's starting pitcher in the All-Star Game, yielding 3 hits, no walks and no runs in 2 innings; he's also the only rookie hurler to win the Pitcher of the Week Award, going 2-0 with a 0.56 ERA, 0.68 WHIP and 13 K in 14 IP in Week 8. The third overall pick in the 2002 draft by the Columbia Rattlesnakes, Buehrle leads not just rookies, but all starters in fewest baserunners per 9 IP (8.9), shutouts (2) and quality start percentage (.765); he also ranks second in the league in ERA (2.56) and slugging percentage (.352) and fifth in batting average (.221) and complete games (4), leading rookies in all those categories as well as H/9 (7.3), BB/9 (1.2) and innings per start (7.0).

Another rookie with an unprecedented performance this season is Hoboken's Joel Pineiro (11-3, 3.54, 12.0), who combined with fellow freshman Mike Matthews for the league's first rookie no-hitter! Pineiro leads all rookies with 11 wins and a .786 winning percentage (third best in the league), and his 0.6 HR/9 is tied for the best in baseball. Among rookies, Pineiro ranks third in ERA and second in H/9 (7.9) and R/9 (12.0).

The first pitcher selected in the DMBL draft (No. 2 overall), Honolulu's Roy Oswalt (8-6, 3.43, 12.1) leads rookies in innings (131.1), strikeouts (113) and K:BB ratio (4.19), and is second in ERA, complete games (2), BB/9 (1.9), is in a five-way tie for second place in wins, and is third in R/9 (12.1)... The only other All-Star rookie starting pitcher was Hoboken's Brandon Duckworth (8-3, 3.94, 14.0), who is second in winning percentage (.727), tied for second in wins and fifth in ERA. He's also tied for the league in hit batsmen, with 15 -- more than twice as many as any other rookie... Brooklyn's Dave Williams was 1-1 with a 1.79 ERA with a 1.06 WHIP over his first seven starts; now he's 2-8 with a 3.86, 1.40... The biggest bargain of the draft might be Brandon Lyon, taken in the 7th round (97th overall) by Vancouver. Lyon (7-4, 4.11) is third in winning percentage (.636) and fifth in B/9 (12.7).

Growing pains: Hoboken's C.C. Sabathia (3-7, 4.99, 14.7), Stanhope's Erik Hiljus (8-5, 5.24, 14.1), Tijuana's Bud Smith (8-6, 4.73, 12.8) and Vancouver's Brian Lawrence (4-7, 4.07, 12.4) haven't dominated the first time around the league, but they've survived.

Down on the Farm: Harrison's Luke Prokopec lasted just one big league start, giving up 7 hits, 9 runs (4 earned) and two walks in 3.2 IP. Arkansas's Joe Kennedy; Carolina's Ted Lilly and Ben Sheets; Harrison's Nate Cornejo and Chris George; Hoboken's Chris Reitsma.

As a 22-year-old rookie with the Arkansas Golden Falcons in 1991, Ben McDonald won the first-ever Most Valuable Pitcher Award, going 17-8 with a 2.69 ERA and 1.22 WHIP. He never lived up to that rookie season, going 32-33 with a 4.70 ERA and 1.50 WHIP over the rest of his career. He retired in 1998 to raise greyhound racing dogs in New Orleans.

Rookie Relievers: Rock On!
John Rocker
Unlike last year, when Stanhope vulture Ray King (15-4, 1 SV, 2.89 ERA) and Vatican City closer Kazuhiro Sasaki (5-2, 30 SV, 4.09 ERA) both looked like serious contenders for the ROY, no rookie has really distinguished himself this season with a lot of saves or wins out of the 'pen. But a handful of firemen are worthy of consideration.

The first rookie reliever drafted this year (16th overall, by Hoboken), Danys Baez (3-2, 4 SV) hasn't disappointed: He leads all rookies with 12 holds (tied for third-best in the DMBL) and 9.7 baserunners per 9 (ninth overall). He's tied for the rookie lead in saves (4) and appearances (45), is second in ERA (2.40) and hits per 9 (6.2), third in K/9 (7.7) and fourth in Ks (48). He's allowed just 5 of 27 inherited runners to score, a rookie-best .185 percentage (fifth overall) and has given up just 1 HR this season (0.2 HR/9 IP), first among rookies and third among all relievers.

At the other end of the spectrum is Wanaque's Jack Cressend (1-1, 1 SV), a 15th-round draft pick who has paid plenty of dividends: He ranks first among rookie relievers in ERA (2.16), second in R/9 (10.1) and BB/9 (2.3) third in innings (66.2) and fourth in appearances (40)... But one of the biggest bargains this year has to be Mike Buddie (3-2, 0 SV), a free agent pick-up by the Hoboken Cutters. Among rookies, Buddie ranks first in BB/9 (1.7), second in innings pitched (77.1), third in R/9 (10.4) and fifth in ERA (3.26)... Vancouver's Victor Zambrano (4-2, 2 SV), is in a four-way tie for the rookie lead in relief wins and ranks first in K/9 (9.1) and K:BB (3.28), second in strikeouts (59) and fourth in ERA (3.22), R/9 (11.0) and inherited runners' scored (.200)... His teammate, Jesus Colome (0-2, 1 SV), ranks third in ERA (2.86) and H/9 (7.0), and fifth in R/9 (11.4).

I'd have better chance of renewing my subscription to Sports Illustrated than these guys winning the 'Stach: Columbia's Juan Moreno (4-1, 0 SV, 3.30 ERA) is tied for first in relief wins, appearances (45) and winning percentage (.800), but he's way too wild (50 BB, 4 WP in 60 IP) and has blown all six save opportunities this season; Hoboken's Mike Matthews may have helped preserve a no-hitter for fellow rookie Joel Pineiro, but the rest of the league hasn't had trouble hitting him (0-1, 0 SV, 7.28 ERA); and Giovanni Carrara has been lousy for two teams (1-1, 5.73 ERA with Tijuana, 0-0, 12.27 ERA with Carolina). Other non-candidates: Carolina's Randy Choate (1-6, 0 SV, 4.54 ERA) and Bob File (0-1, 1 SV, 4.08); Columbia's Victor Santos (4-1, 0 SV, 5.59); Wanaque's Bret Prinz (4-3, 4 SV, 4.04).

Down on the farm: Arkansas's Travis Phelps flashed potential during his brief call-up (1-2, 3.07 ERA, 11.7 R/9 in 14.2 IP), but Jason Marquis couldn't get back to Triple-A fast enough after two disastrous appearances (0-1, 12.71 ERA, 15.9 R/9)... Gary Glover was sold to Japan after 23 appearances with Tijuana (1-0, 0 SV, 8.57 ERA, 16.9 R/9), but neither Japan nor Triple-A wanted Luther Hackman or Chad Bradford, who were both bombed for double-digit ERAs in their first three appearances... Honolulu's Ryan Franklin is still waiting for his first call-up.

John Rocker was the first reliever to ever win the Listach, going 7-3 with 4 saves, 3.06 ERA, 1.40 WHIP and 84 Ks in 79.3 IP for Hawaii and Arkansas in 1999. He had an even better campaign in '00 (9-1, 1 SV, 2.38 ERA, 126 K in 90.2 IP), but was released after struggling last season. He's dedicated this season to spreading peace, love and understanding between the races.