Rookie Of The Where?

I know we're just starting the 6th week of the season, but man this year's crop of rookies has been poor at best, so far. Maybe it seems so bad because last year there were so many impact rookies (Hanley Ramirez, Zimmerman, Uggla, Verlander, Francisco Liriano, Markakis, Zumaya, etc.), but either way, if the voting was today, I'm not sure how it would turn out.

In the AL, it would probably be Boston's other Japanese pitcher, lefty set-up man Hideki Okajima. He has more strikeouts than innings pitched, 8 holds and ERA under 0.60. Closer Joakim Soria from KC is also in the running at this point. Guys who aren't in the running yet are the ones we thought would be. Dice-K has been inconsistent, Phil Hughes is hurt, Kei Igawa has been horrible, and out of this immensely talented group of position players: Delmon Young, Elijah Dukes, Alex Gordon, and Travis Buck, not one is hitting .250.

In the NL, I think feel-good-story Josh Hamilton is in the lead so far, but he hasn't had much competition. Arizona's outfield duo of Quentin and Young has struggled. So has Rockie Rookie Troy Tulowitski and San Diego's Kevin Kouzmanoff (mightily). As far as arms, Jason Hirsh has been good but not great for Colorado, as has Chris Sampson for Houston, and Henry Owens is doing a good Soria impersonation for Florida. As a side note, Tim Lincecum (or as one of my friends likes to call him, Tim WINCE-cum) didn't do much to garner support during his debut Sunday night (4 earned with 5 walks over 4 1/3 against the Phillies).

Long story short, 5 weeks in, and the race is wide open in both leagues.