Rookie Watcher

Games: Sunday, April 26, 2009
Following the race to the American League and
National League Rookie of the Year awards.

National League:

Cameron Maybin | CF | Florida Marlins
Opponent: LHP Jamie Moyer (Philadelphia
Result: 0-for-5, 3 Ks
Trending: Maybin is three for his last 21 with 8 Ks.
Notes: Maybin started the year off with a little gusto, but the strikeouts are piling up as the average drops. His 2009 season so far is looking a lot like his debut appearance in 2007 with Detroit when he hit .143/.208/.265 in 49 at-bats.

Travis Ishikawa | 1B | San Francisco
Opponent: RHP Jon Garland (Arizona)
Result: 0-for-5, 2 K
Trending: He has one walk in 47 at-bats.
Notes: Ishikawa is being platooned and has just five at-bats against left-handers. It’s not helping him much,though, as he’s batting just .214 against right-handers.

Chris Dickerson | OF | Cincinnati
Opponent: RHP Kenshin Kawakami (Atlanta)
Result: 0-for-1 pinch hitting
Trending: He’s averaging almost one K per game.
Notes: Dickerson walked five times in his first five games and went 3-for-10. He then went seven games without a walk and went 1-for-18.

Dexter Fowler | OF | Colorado
Opponent: LHP Clayton Kershaw (Los Angeles NL)
Result: 3-for-4, 2B, run, RBI, CS
Trending: He hasn’t struck out in eight games. He’s hitting .400 at home, .207 on the road.
Notes: Still not officially playing everyday, Fowler is doing a little bit of everything (Defense, Average, Power, and Speed) and already has four multi-hit games.

Jordan Schafer | CF | Atlanta
Opponent: RHP Micah Owings (Cincinnati)
Result: 0-for-3, three strikeouts
Trending: He’s striking out a lot (37.3 K%) but he’s also walking more than the average rookie (16.9 BB%).
Notes: Schafer caught a lot of people’s attention by hitting two homers in his first 10 at-bats, but he hasn’t gone yard in the last 15 games. He has actually had just three extra base hits during that time. Schafer also has yet to steal a base after regularly nabbing double digits in steals each year in the minors.

Colby Rasmus | CF | St. Louis
Opponent: RHP Rich Harden (Chicago NL)
Result: 1-for-5, three K
Trending: Rasmus is seven for his last 17.
Notes: The left-handed hitter is just 2-for-13 against southpaws, but he’s struck out just three times and has four walks. He’s batting .342 against right-handed pitchers.

American League:

Chris Getz | 2B | Chicago
Opponent: RHP Roy Halladay (Toronto)
Result: Did Not Play (Injury)
Trending: A LH hitter, he’s 2-for-5 against southpaws
Notes: Getz has a broken bone on the tip of his finger but there is no word on how much time he might miss. He was seven for his last 13 before the injury and has been hitting at the top of the White Sox’ order.

Elvis Andrus | SS | Texas
Opponent: RHP Brad Bergesen (Orioles)
Result: 1-for-3
Trending: Andrus is two for his last 17 with no walks and just one K.
Notes: Andrus remains valuable, even with a hollow .275 average, because of his defense. It might be nice if he tried to run a bit, though.

Travis Snider | LF | Toronto
Opponent: RHP Jose Contreras (White Sox)
Result: 1-for-4, K
Trending: Snider is 2-for-10 against LHPs with four Ks.
Notes: Snider was eaten up by Contreras’ splitter, but learned from his mistakes as the game progressed. He’s been swinging at a lot of first pitches recently and needs to get into better hitter’s counts.

Brett Gardner | CF | New York
Opponent: RHP Justin Masterson (Boston)
Result: 0-for-3, K, RBI
Trending: Gardner is five for six in stolen base attempts.
Notes: He has no extra base hits in 10 games and he’s walked only twice during that time. Unfortunately, Gardner isn’t hitting for average either.