A few days ago, we covered the top rookies in the National League during the 2010 season that will be looking to avoid the dreaded sophomore jinx for 2011. History clearly tells us that at least one or possibly more will inevitably fall through the cracks and flame out a la Mark Fidrych or Joe Charboneau.
The American League is certainly no different. While the 2010 season produced a fabulous crop of rookies in the AL, ultimately we will be talking about one of them who suffered through a horrible second season and were unable to capitalize on early success.
The game of baseball can certainly be cruel at times. Success can turn to heartache in the bat of an eye. Yesterday’s star can turn into tomorrow’s chump at any given moment. One only has to look to Rick Ankiel and Dontrelle Willis to know that, although Ankiel did re-create himself as a center fielder with power and an incredible arm.
However, as we noted in the National League sophomore jinx story, there are a select few who will go on to greatness, and while some of the great American League rookies of 2010 will possibly go on to have nice careers, in the past, only 12 percent of all Rookie of the Year award winners have gone on to Hall of Fame careers.
We will look at the top vote-getters for the 2010 American League Rookie of the Year, and we let you decide who you believe is the biggest candidate for the dreaded sophomore jinx.
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