RealGM

Delmon Young became just the 10th rookie in the last 50 years in getting his 15th outfield assist last night against the A's.

For the season, the Rays have recorded 34 outfield assists trailing only the Phillies who have 36.

Next year, this becomes a lock down outfield and will serve as the Rays identity for years to come.

Imagine, the Rays with an identity..........hmmmmmm

Carl Crawford is batting .415 (39-94) for the month of August prior to saturday night's game against the A's.

Strong finish could net him player of the month.

Teams are getting the message about running on the Rays outfield.

Rays are batting .353 as a team during the last 5 games.

They have scored 52 runs.

What is amazing though is that the Rays are batting .452 with runners in scoring position.

Big wow.

Delmon Young should be a front runner for AL ROY IMO.

Young is on pace to gather 190 hits, which would make him only the 5th rookie in the last 50 years to do so.

Add to it the probable 90 rbi's, near .300 avg, has played every day, the 15 OF assists....and what you have is the AL rookie of the year.

Front runner? You serious? He's hit for a high average but he doesn't walk and he's hit for absolutely no power. Brendan Harris has hit for more power.

What about Bannister, Pedroia, Okajima, Iwamura, Guthrie, Matsuzaka, Rafael Perez, Joakim Soria, Travis Buck, etc?

Seriously there are like 10 better candidates. JD Drew is the only RF in the AL who has had a worse offensive season.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/stati ... cid=268720

"A front runner".

Serious.

Bannister, Pedroia, Matsuzaka, and Soria are the other front runners.

Young is hitting .295 with 12 hr's and 81 rbi's. And, he's been out there every day, and all year.

Yeah, his obp is .325, but his average with runners in scoring position is almost .370. I'd take a few extra K's any day to have a hitter with a risp average of .370.

Lacks power.... yeah so far. Only 12 hr's, but at 81 rbi's......that tells me he's kept a lot of innings alive and produced runs for what has been an anemic lineup until a month ago.

Is he clutch? Yeah, at bat and in the field.

Anyhow, he will get much consideration from the voters this year.

As he should.

Young's been okay, but he's underperformed his tremendous talent and tools. Granted, he's only 21 and will get a lot better, but he isn't going to win the ROY, nor should he.

And he really needs to learn to take a pitch. Unless he's absolutely certain that he can get a good swing on the ball (which he rarely does), it hurts the team. Tonight, bases loaded, one out, and the M's pitcher's couldn't find the strike zone at all, and Delmon swung at the first pitch and promptly GIDP to end the inning.

Underperformed.......or just scratching the surface?

I agree with Young needing better plate discipline, but so does Crawford, Iwamura, and a slew of others in MLB that like to jump on 1st pitches.

He's still hitting .350 with RISP, has 90 rbi's, is batting .295, and is approaching 600 AB's for the season.

He just turned 22 the other day.

Not all is bad.

Except for the pitching staff that he plays with.

Say anything you want to about Young's lack of power, but he is hitting .290, with 12 hr's and 90 rbi's.

Add to it his .350 avg w/risp, and 15 OF assists....and now becomes a solidified candidate for ROY.