Who saw Kimbrel-as-rookie-of-the-year coming? Well … (ajc)
Gotta love the hermit-crab stance. (AJC photo by Hyosub Shin)
Not to say I'm smart or anything -- we all know better -- but I wasn't
surprised that Craig Kimbrel beat Freddie Freeman more than 2-to-1 in voting
for the National League rookie of the year. (Kimbrel had 160 points, which is
the maximum; Freeman, who finished second, had 70.)
I wasn't surprised because having been a card-carrying member of the BBWAA
since 1984, I've done this voting-for-awards thing and I know a bit about how
baseball writers work. Maybe this gave me an unfair advantage, but when you're
as lousy at predictions as I am you need all the help you can get.
(A note: I haven't done the voting-for-awards thing _lately_. The **AJC**
decided a few years ago that its writers shouldn't vote on yearly awards.)
Baseball writers look at numbers first. (Remember, a baseball writer can't
watch every inning of every team's games.) When a baseball writer sees
Freeman's numbers, he/she thinks: "The guy hit .282 with 21
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