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Okay, who WAS the last?

Bret Sabermetric Jan 09 2006 02:16 PM

Met rookie* to win a starting job (rotation or lineup) out of Spring Training? * (defined as "eligible to win that season's ROTY award")

MFS62 Jan 09 2006 02:20 PM

Probably Ty Wiginton - at third base in 2003. He had fewer than 100 AB in 2002. Later

Bret Sabermetric Jan 09 2006 02:26 PM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Jan 09 2006 02:34 PM

No, Wiggy had played in 46 games in '02. Not eligible, I think. Technically the answer is "Matsui in 2004" but he'd already won the job the day he signed his contract, probably his best day in MLB ever. And you could argue that Diaz "won" a job last year (by dint of Cameron's injury) and then he ended up playing the most games in RF eventually, but please don't. Another technical answer would be Yoshii in 1998, at the age of 33, with a Japanese career behind him, but the last non-Japanese player eligible for the ROTY award, I think, looks like Ordonez in 1996.

Yancy Street Gang Jan 09 2006 02:30 PM

I'll open the bidding with Dwight Gooden in 1984. There are probably more recent examples, but at least we've set a baseline.

Yancy Street Gang Jan 09 2006 02:39 PM

Kevin Elster, 1988. Gregg Jefferies (technically, anyway) in 1989.

Yancy Street Gang Jan 09 2006 02:41 PM

Jumping ahead a bunch of years, we get Rey Ordonez in 1996.

metirish Jan 09 2006 02:41 PM

Does Shinjo count?

Yancy Street Gang Jan 09 2006 02:42 PM

He'd probaby count as much as Matsui. There's also Butch Huskey in 1996.

Yancy Street Gang Jan 09 2006 02:44 PM

How about Jay Payton in 2000?

metirish Jan 09 2006 02:45 PM

Payton made his debut in september 98.

Yancy Street Gang Jan 09 2006 02:46 PM

But he was a rookie in 2000.

Bret Sabermetric Jan 09 2006 02:49 PM

Actually, I may be wrong about Wiggy--he got a single vote for 2003 NL ROTY (so did Reyes) so I'm thinking maybe he was eligible.

86-Dreamer Jan 09 2006 02:55 PM

Didn't Tyler Yates beat out Seo for the 5th spot in the rotation way, way back in 2004? http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=240409120

Yancy Street Gang Jan 09 2006 03:12 PM

Yes, Tyler Yates did win a rotation spot in spring training. How about that!

Johnny Dickshot Jan 09 2006 03:38 PM

Did he? I thought his job was initially given to Erickson who pulled a groin warming up for this first start.

Edgy DC Jan 09 2006 03:52 PM

The Mets ope'd 2004 with Glavine-Leiter-Trachsel-Erickson-Yates. Seo took Erickson's slot after the injury. He pitched barely adequately in 21 starts, but the number five slot was Yates' from the beginning, and was unsettled throughout most of the year.

metirish Jan 09 2006 03:54 PM

What a starting rotation that was, did James Baldwin take Erickson's spot for a while?

Edgy DC Jan 09 2006 03:56 PM

At that point, it was Yates' slot, but yeah.