Texas Rangers' Murphy a Rookie of the Year contender
[SIZE=-1]03:49 AM CDT on Tuesday, June 17, 2008
[/SIZE]By EVAN GRANT / The Dallas Morning News
egrant@dallasnews.com
The Texas Rangers have gone longer than any other organization in baseball without a Rookie of the Year winner.
David Murphy just might be able to end the 33-year drought – that is, if he can get anybody to notice him.
Entering the start of the interleague series with Atlanta Tuesday night, just 10 games shy of the season's midpoint, Murphy is tied for the AL rookie lead with 10 homers. He is first in the league with 47 RBIs and 20 doubles and is second with a .787 on-base-plus-slugging percentage.
But when Joe Morgan, an ESPN analyst and Hall of Famer, was asked in a recent online chat about the state of the AL rookie class, he mentioned Boston's Jacoby Ellsbury, Minnesota's Carlos Gomez, Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria, Baltimore's Adam Jones and New York's Joba Chamberlain.
"[They] are having positive impacts on their clubs," Morgan wrote, "but it's only June."
True, that. It gives the Rangers another three months to inform the voting populace – 28 members of the Baseball Writers Association of America – that Murphy has matched up with any of the others.
But others are either in bigger media markets (Boston and New York) or were part of higher profile trades (Gomez and Jones) or were awarded multiyear contracts within days of their big-league debut (Longoria).
"You try to give your player as much media exposure as possible, especially when someone's putting up numbers in a rookie season like David has to this point," said Rich Rice, the Rangers' director of media relations. "He is on pace to establish several club rookie records, and obviously there have been some pretty good offensive players come through here in recent years."
Since Mike Hargrove was the lone Ranger to win the award in 1974, a handful of big-time offensive producers have come through Texas.
Pete Incaviglia set club rookie marks with 30 home runs and 88 RBIs in 1986 and didn't crack the top five in voting.
Mark Teixeira, who returns to Arlington tonight with Atlanta, set club rookie marks with an .811 OPS and 29 doubles in 2003. He was fifth in the AL balloting. Kansas City's Angel Berroa won. Cleveland's Jody Gerut received more votes than Teixeira.
As the summer gets hotter and the season grows longer, rookie performances often fade since players have shorter seasons in the minors. That's one area where Murphy may have an advantage. He played much of August and September in the majors with the Rangers last season. He fell just short of meeting playing thresholds that would have removed his rookie status for this season.
"All I really know is that at this point, I feel better than I ever have in a professional season," Murphy said. "I don't know if it's because travel and taking care of yourself are a little easier in the big leagues, but I do feel better.
"I know if playing time continues as it has been going, there will be some wear and tear on my body. I will have to readjust. But I think I'm capable of doing it."
Hamilton stays second: With a little over two weeks remaining in the voting for All-Star starters, center fielder Josh Hamilton continues to solidify his hold on a starting position.
Hamilton remained second in the latest AL voting, released Monday by Major League Baseball. With 1,352,372 votes, Hamilton trailed outfield leader Manny Ramirez of Boston by a little less than 200,000 votes.
Second baseman Ian Kinsler and outfielder Milton Bradley also made gains on the leaders at their positions. Kinsler is second behind Boston's Dustin Pedroia by about 200,000 votes. Bradley is eighth in the outfield voting, about 320,000 votes shy of Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki for the third spot.
Briefly: The Rangers could not find a trade partner and have placed RHP Sidney Ponson on release waivers for the purpose of giving him his unconditional release. ... RHP Thomas Diamond's allotted 30 days of a rehab assignment expired Monday, so he was activated and optioned to Double-A Frisco. Diamond is 1-1 with a 6.23 ERA in five starts at Frisco.
<TABLE class=dwsmodule cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" bgColor=#000000 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE class=dwsmodule cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=3 width="100%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=bilabel colSpan=4>THE COMPETITION </TD></TR><TR bgColor=#cccccc><TD class=dwsmodule align=middle colSpan=4>David Murphy could become the Rangers' first Rookie of the Year winner since 1974. How his numbers stack up against other top rookies: </TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=dwsmodule>Player </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>Pos. </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>Team </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>Key statistics </TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=dwsmodule>Joba Chamberlain </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>P </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>NY Yankees </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>2.48 ERA, 40 Ks </TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=dwsmodule>Jacoby Ellsbury </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>OF </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>Boston </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>.284, 50 R, 33 SB </TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=dwsmodule>Carlos Gomez </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>OF </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>Minnesota </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>.272, 41 R, 18 SB </TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=dwsmodule>Adam Jones </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>OF </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>Baltimore </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>.252, 4 HR, 26 RBI </TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=dwsmodule>Evan Longoria </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>3B </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>Tampa Bay </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>.249, 10 HR, 32 RBI </TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=dwsmodule>David Murphy </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>OF </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>Rangers </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>.282, 10 HR, 47 RBI </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
