Roberto Osuna, The Odd Man Out

As the MLB season (including postseason) comes to an end, everyone thinks of the same three things: free agents, offseason trades and the awards. Writers begin to write about Donaldson for AL MVP and Harper for NL MVP. Next it's Kuechel and Scherzer for CY Young. Then it's the silver sluggers, gold gloves, the Hank Aaron award, the reliever of the year award, and then finally... The Rookie of the year.

It doesn't matter what site you are on, the award goes to the Cleveland Indians SS Francisco Lindor. This season, Lindor hit to a very good .313 BA with 12 hrs and 51 RBI. Although Lindor had an outstanding for a rookie, he shouldn't be the only one thought about when someone says rookie of the year. Here is another name to consider: Roberto Osuna.

Roberto Osuna made the Toronto Blue Jays this year right out of spring training. He has never played a game above single A, but he was ready for the challenge. He started the year coming out of the pen as he was thought of as a average reliever with a lot of potential. But after one month of lights out baseball for Osuna, he was named the 4th closer of that month for the Jays, and he kept that job for the rest of the season. He quickly became the most reliable option we had, and the bullpen started to revolve around him. He became a key piece to the Jays winning games. He was finally someone who could shut the door.

Osuna finished the year with 20 saves. Not great compared to the rest of the MLB but keep in mind that he was the closer for the always blow out Blue Jays. Most of their wins didn't have save opportunities because they completely blew out the other team. Many times Osuna was put in without a save opportunity, which helped him rack up very good stats, just not many saves. He was extremely valuable for the Jays, as he was their number one option.

Here are Osuna's 2015 stats. In 69.2 IP Osuna had a 2.58 ERA with 75 strikeouts and only 16 walks. Just like Lindor, Osuna also had a rookie season to remember. If Lindor hit with that stat line for the rest of his career, he would be a good player, but nothing special. If Osuna kept his stats for the rest of his career, he would be considered an elite closer. That is definitely one thing to consider.

As you can see, Osuna had a great season. So, why isn't he in contention for the rookie of the year. I have three reasons. The first is that, a lot of people don't hear about relievers often because they don't play very much. Relievers overall are the lowest valued in baseball. Being that they don't play as much as the hitters and the starters, they aren't really valued very high. When was the last time a reliever took home the MVP award? Exactly. My next theory is that he didn't standout enough. Sure he had a great rookie season, but it is hard to standout when your team has all-star starters, home run derby hitters and multiple possible MVP candidates. My final theory is just the fact that he is a pitcher. Lots of people would prefer a hitter over a pitcher. People like home runs more then strikeouts and perfect innings. I'll even admit, so would I. So maybe people would rather have a hitter win the ROY (rookie of the year) award then a pitcher. There are other ROY contenders, and they are all batters. No pitchers.

In conclusion, I would like to say, I fully support Lindor contending for the ROY as he has had a great season, but I am sure that Osuna should be brought into consideration as well, as he deserves. He had a very good year, which would be extremely disappointing to go unrecognized. He is deserving of at least a top 3 finish in the race, and I would be upset to see otherwise. He is a very deserving player.