Baltimore Orioles: The last time the O’s had a Rookie of the Year

The Baltimore Orioles have a young player who has had a Rookie-of-the-Year-caliber season.

The Baltimore Orioles Trey Mancini could have easily been a front-runner for the AL Rookie of the Year had it not been for a certain home run hitter on another team.

The snub that Mancini will most likely get from voters only emphasizes the fact that the last time an O’s ballplayer won a Rookie of the Year award was in 1989. That man was Gregg Olson.

Along with Olsen, there have been a total of six rookies on Orioles teams who have won the prestigious award. They are:

• Ron Hansen in 1960
• Curt Blefary in 1965
• Al Bumbry in 1973
• Eddie Murray in 1977
• Cal Ripken in 1982
• Gregg Olson in 1989

That is quite a drought. And, a sign that the Orioles need to work on their draft picks, farm system, and player development.

Rookies of the Year in the current World Series

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros have shown the world what a good farm system can do. Yes, the Astros were not good for several years. Between 2011 and 2013, the team couldn’t get 60 wins in any of those three seasons. But, just a few years later in 2017, they had 101 wins.

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The Astros and Dodgers have a handful of Rookie of the Year players on their teams. The Dodgers have Corey Seager who won the award in 2016. Carlos Correa won the award in 2015. And, most are expecting that Cody Bellinger will be named the NL Rookie of the Year when the World Series is finished. For comparison, the Dodgers have had six ROTY winners since 1990, the year after the O’s last winner.

Even though he played for the Detroit Tigers at the time, Justin Verlander also won a Rookie of the Year award in 2006.

Rookie players bring excitement to regular and post-season play

In the 2016 World Series with the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians, Kris Bryant was the latest Rookie the Year to make it to the Fall Classic. These young players like Bryant, Bellinger, and Mancini make the game more exciting. Consider the role that Bryant played to help the Cubs get their first World Series win in 108 years. They couldn’t have done it without him.

The third baseman was so valuable that he won the NL MVP in 2016. Not even Mike Trout and Bryce Harper won their MVP the year after they were named Rookie of the Year. Trout had to wait two years and Harper had to wait three years. There appears to be some correlation between having good, young players and making it to the postseason.

Next: Orioles players who hit home runs in World Series games

It is too bad that Mancini will most likely not win a Rookie of the Year award. He has had an outstanding season, but the competition simply had a better one. It would be nice to see more young, exciting players make their way through the Orioles system. The young players bring freshness and enthusiasm to the game in a way that older veterans do not.