Tanaka, Betances make Baseball America’s All-Rookie Team

Baseball America announced their All-Rookie Team on Friday, and both Masahiro Tanaka and Dellin Betances made the cut. Tanaka claimed one of five starting pitcher spots while Betances grabbed the only reliever spot. Former Yankee Yangervis Solarte was mentioned in the write-up for his strong season but was not named to the team.

“The Yankees’ $155 million import pitched like a Cy Young Award winner in the first half, going 11-3, 2.10 and leading the AL in wins and ERA, but an elbow injury scuttled his second half and leaves his 2015 season in doubt after a pair of lackluster September starts … he proved he can pitch like an ace, health permitting, in both Japan and the U.S,” said the write-up of Tanaka.

The write-up noted Betances’ season was better Craig Kimbrel’s, Neftali Feliz’s, and Andrew Bailey’s when they won the Rookie of the Year awards. Betances won’t beat out Jose Abreu though. “(One) must go back to Mark Eichhorn’s 1986 season to find a rookie reliever who notched more strikeouts than Betances, who had 135 in 90 innings. The catch: Eichhorn needed 157 innings to strike out 166 batters.”