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The fans picked Vatican City's Kazuhiro Sasaki as the
Pat Listach Rookie of the Year, but our
panel of baseball experts say Kaz may have some competition as the 2001 class of rookie hurlers may be among the best ever.
Curt Menefee, Fox 5 New York Sports
First-round draft pick Ray King has been everything Stanhope could've helped for and more. The 26-year-old
southpaw is 11-4 with a 2.83 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP in his role as Mariano Rivera's favorite setup man. One of just
two rookies named to the All-Star squad, King leads rookie relievers in wins and was on track to tie Jeff Zimmerman's
record of 16 wins in relief before the Mighty Men hit the skids in July. It's a longshot, but he could still pull it
off: He needs six wins in the final 29 games of the season.
Mike Gillespie, head coach, USC Trojans
Last year, Barry Zito was my workhorse. He was a first-team All-American, the Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year and
took us all the way to the College World Series. When the big lefty was grabbed by the Carolina Mudcats with the second
pick of the 2001 draft, I figured it would be a few years before Barry got another taste of the playoffs.
But Zito has helped turn around last year's 103-game losers. With 30 games left in the season, the Mudcats look like
they're headed to the post-season and they owe a lot if it to Zito: 10-5, 3.26 ERA, 122 Ks in 138 IP and the winner of
four straight starts. He's among the league leaders in ERA (2nd), winning percentage (tied for 8th), fewest hits per 9
(3rd), lowest slugging percentage allowed (1st), fewest HRs per 9 (1st) and most strikeouts per 9 (8th).
Tony La Russa, former Waikiki Keys manager
Rick Ankiel was a first-round draft pick for the Arkansas Golden Falcons last year, but he spent the entire 2000
season honing his craft for Double-A Birmingham, where he went 11-7 with a 3.50 ERA and 194 K in 175 IP. The Falcons are
being rewarded for their patience with the southpaw phenom, who is now leading rookie starters in strikeouts (154) --
fourth in the league -- and posts an 8-8 record despite a respectable 4.50 ERA, thanks to the worst run support of any
Arkansas starter. He's already notched his first big-league shutout, a 5-0 blanking of the Carolina Mudcats in his third
big-league start, and he's proven he's not intimidated by major-league batters: He's fifth in hit batsmen. Most kids with
his stuff are still whiffing A-ball batters, relying on a high-90s heater without developing a breaking ball. Ricky is
already a four-pitch pitcher -- at age 20! -- including a knee-buckling nose-to-toes curveball.
He has a higher ceiling than any player in the game right now. As long as Arkansas managers George Brett and Willie
Wilson don't do something stupid to blow this kid's confidence, like letting him get torched in the playoffs or
something ridiculous like that, he will be the next Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux or even, dare I say... Ben McDonald.
Lonnie Wheeler, The Kentucky Post
Lots of Kentucky fans thought Carl Everett for Tomokazu Ohka was a bad trade. Maybe it was -- for Newark.
Instead of chasing records set by Randy Johnson, Ohka will be after Pedro Astacio's career marks as Kentucky's
greatest starter. The Japanese righty was traded from Newark to Kentucky for Everett before the 2001 season started,
and he's been the reason Kentucky fans are still talking about the playoffs -- and Everett? He's missed nearly a third
of the season due to injury. The rookie leads Hillbilly starters in wins (12), ERA (4.04) and quality starts (14), and
he leads all rookies in wins and starter's ERA. All this from a 24-year-old yet to master his control? Pass the sushi!
Dave Van Dyck, senior writer for FOXSports.com
| Top 10 Relief Points in a Season |
| Player |
Team |
Year |
W-L |
Sv/BS |
Pts |
| 1. Billy Wagner | VAN | 2000 | 6-4 | 41-4 | 86 |
| 2. Mariano Rivera | JER | 2000 | 14-2 | 27-3 | 77 |
| 3. Mariano Rivera | JER | 1999 | 9-4 | 35-8 | 76 |
| 4. John Wetteland | NWK | 1998 | 5-2 | 34-3 | 73 |
| 5. Jeff Shaw | AUS | 2000 | 6-7 | 36-8 | 69 |
| 6. Rick Aguilera | KEY | 1999 | 5-5 | 33-4 | 67 |
| 7. Gregg Olson | HON | 1999 | 7-4 | 30-5 | 65 |
| 8t. Kazuhiro Sasaki | VAT | 2001 | 5-1 | 28-2 | 63 |
| 8t. Mark Wohlers | LOU | 1997 | 5-5 | 29-? | 63* |
| 10. Trevor Hoffman | ARK | 1999 | 7-4 | 27-2 | 62 |
| 18. Dennis Eckersley | VAN | 1992 | 10-5 | 19-? | 53 |
Eckersley's 53* points in 1992 stood for five years until it was broken by Mike Timlin (59*).
*Blown saves not available. |
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Like most Vatican City fans -- and I do have a Deion Sanders Cheyenne Warhawks jersey somewhere in my closet -- I was
shocked when they took Sasaki with the first pick of the 2001 draft, passing up Jeff D'Amico, Barry Zito and Rafael
Furcal. With Armando Benitez unprotected, Sasaki didn't even look like the best closer available. Boy, were we wrong!
Sasaki has been pitching lights out for the Cards all season. He's not just at the top of the rookie class -- he's
one of the top closers in baseball. He's racked up 5 wins, 28 saves, a 3.88 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP, with 84 Ks in 60.1
IP! He's blown just two saves this year for a .933 save percentage, and his 63 relief points lead the league
(Stanhope's Mariano Rivera is second, with 55). In fact, 63 points already ranks him 8th on the single-season
leaderboard; he needs 24 more points to break the all-time record, 86 points set by Billy Wagner in 2000 (6-4, 41-4) --
14 more saves in the final 30 games of the season would mean both records.
Atsuko Toyama, Japanese minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
Ohka? Sasaki? How about Wunsch?
Third-rounder Kelly Wunsch is a key component of one of the league's strongest bullpens in Columbia.
The 27-year-old southpaw is 6-3 with 3 SV, leading his team -- and also all rookies -- with a 2.59 ERA. The
southpaw has been death against lefties, allowing just a .177 batting average and only 3 extra-base hits in
62 ABs; but even righties are hitting only .247 against him, with just a .349 slugging percentage. Once he
develops better command of the strike zone, Kelly will rank with the game's elite relievers.
Other rookies of note:
Brooklyn's second-round draft pick, Chuck Smith, was 8-10 despite a 3.38 ERA, and when he was
traded to a contender many sportswriters thought he'd finally have the offensive support to make a bid at the ROY Award.
But Smith has been a disaster for Stanhope, going 2-5 with a 7.40 ERA since the trade, sinking his overall numbers to
10-15, 4.40 ERA.
Philadelphia's Mike Fyhrie (1-6, 2 SV, 4.21) leads rookie relievers in innings (107), appearances
(66) and strikeouts (95), but also in losses (6) and hits allowed (140). He allowed nearly half (48.4 percent) of his
inherited runners to score -- the league average is less than 35 percent... Another reliever drawing mixed reviews for
his debut is Arkansas's Byung-Hyun Kim, who is second in saves (10) and has an astonishing 87 Ks in 57.2 IP, but
also has allowed a 7.34 ERA and 1.77 WHIP.
Phoenix's Bruce Chen was signed to fill the void when the Dragons lost innings-eater reliever
Ramiro Mendoza. But Chen has been pressed into service as a starter, where he's racked up more innings (174) than any
other rookie, despite a so-so 5.48 ERA and 9-11 record.
Earl Weaver believed long relief was the best place to break in a rookie, and a number of firemen have
proved him right: Kentucky's Kevin Walker (5-4, 3 SV, 3.48), Kentucky/Vancouver's Lou Pote (2-2, 1 SV,
4.00 ERA), Hoboken's Vicente Padilla (5-1, 1 SV, 4.04), and Honolulu's Jeff Tam (1-4, 1 SV, 4.50).
For a rookie starter, just breaking even is enough. Brooklyn's Paul Abbott (10-10, 5.62) and
Vancouver's Brian Tollberg (3-3, 5.61) and Tony Armas (4-4, 5.31) won't win any awards, but by merely surviving
their first year in the bigs they're ahead of most rookies.
Note: Statistics are as of Wednesday's games (listed 8/14/01).
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