The National League Rookie of the Year race was generally conceded to Ryan Braun weeks ago, the same way that the Yankees were declared dead months ago (yours truly was part of that chorus), because Braun's offensive numbers are staggering. Overwhelming. Braun didn't play in his first big-league ballgame until May 25th, and little more than four months later, the Milwaukee third baseman is sitting here with 33 homers, 94 RBIs and a .325 average. The milestones he reached this year were the kind of milestones that players like Albert Pujols and Mel Ott and Ted Williams chased. You get the feeling, watching Braun hit, that we're going to be comparing him to the Otts and Williams' and Pujols' the rest of his career.
But the best rookie in the NL this year has been
Troy Tulowitzki of the Rockies.
His record-breaking numbers are not nearly so gaudy as those of Braun -- Tulowitzki's 23 homers are the most ever for a rookie NL shortstop. He's driven in 93 runs, with 97 runs scored and 30 doubles. The backbone of his candidacy, though, is in what he has done defensively: Many talent evaluators and advance scouts say Tulowitzki has played Gold Glove caliber shortstop --
he leads the NL in fielding percentage, double plays and range factor. He is the centerpiece of the team which has been, by a good margin,
the most efficient defensive club in the majors; the Rockies have committed just 65 errors, and when you talk to evaluators and players within their organization, they say that Tulowitzki is the primary reason for the change, with the mid-90s-
Nomar Garciaparra-like athleticism with which he plays the position.
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Buster Olney
