Cubs’ Bryant, Astros’ Correa voted top MLB’s rookies

Bryant had an. 858 OPS with 26 homers and 99 RBIs – both tops among major-league rookies – while helping lead the Cubs make the plahyoffs.

Correa’s red-hot rookie campaign netted him 17 first-place votes by members of the BBWAA, while Lindor received 13…making this a particularly close race for the AL’s top spot.

San Francisco Giants third baseman Matt Duffy finished second with 22 second-place votes and 70 points, followed by Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Kang Jung-ho with 28 total points.

As for Correa, the Astros’ phenom batted.279/.345/.512 with 52 runs scored, 22 home runs, 68 RBI and 14 stolen bases in 99 games this past season. Catcher Geovany Soto was the last franchise player to be named Rookie of the Year in 2008.

Bryant started the season at Triple-A.

“Twenty years from now”, Bryant said, “you’re not going to remember your batting average or how many home runs you hit in a certain season”.

Correa accepted a contract slightly below the slotted amount for the top overall pick, which allowed the Astros to have extra bonus money to draft and sign Lance McCullers with the 41st pick overall.

And what made that home run special to Bryant was not just the fact that he hit a curve off former National League Cy Young Award winning Clayton Kershaw, but that he drove the pitch over the wall in right field.

Bryant became the 20th player overall, and the 11th in the National League, to win the coveted award by a unanimous vote.

“I play for the love of the game”, Bryant said. “It really means a lot not only for [my family], but me as well”.

Bryant also stole 13 bases and showed such surprising speed, aggressiveness and instincts that a major-league evaluator nicknamed him “The Untaggable Man”. Yeah, me either. Bryant shook off the “late” callup-playing with a chip on his shoulder as he ran away with the Jackie RobinsonNL rookie of the Year award unanimously.