masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgRyan Mountcastle stuck his head into the Rookie of the Year voting this summer. Just a quick peek.
Maybe he can take a deep dive in 2021.
Mountcastle received one point via a third-place vote to finish tied for eighth in the American League, as announced tonight on MLB Network. Cal Ripken Jr., who received the honor in 1982, revealed the winner.
The Mariners’ Kyle Lewis was a unanimous choice with 30 first-place votes for 150 points, followed by the White Sox’s Luis Robert with 83 points and…

Ryan Mountcastle stuck his head into the Rookie of the Year voting this summer. Just a quick peek.

Maybe he can take a deep dive in 2021.

Mountcastle received one point via a third-place vote to finish tied for eighth in the American League, as announced tonight on MLB Network. Cal Ripken Jr., who received the honor in 1982, revealed the winner.

The Mariners’ Kyle Lewis was a unanimous choice with 30 first-place votes for 150 points, followed by the White Sox’s Luis Robert with 83 points and the Astros’ Cristian Javier with 11 – all of them coming from third place votes.

The Associated Press’ David Ginsburg provided Mountcastle with his third-place vote. The Royals’ Brady Singer and the Athletics’ Jesús Luzardo also had one point.

The Orioles promoted Mountcastle, 23, from the alternate camp site on Aug. 21 and he became their most productive player over 35 games.

Mountcastle-Draws-Walk-Black-Sidebar.jpgThe 36th overall pick in the 2015 First-Year Player Draft, Mountcastle batted .333/.386/.492 with five doubles, five home runs, 23 RBIs and 11 walks in 140 plate appearances. He also proved capable of handling left field, his fourth position since becoming a professional.

Mountcastle made 23 starts in left and nine at first base.

No one on the team drove in more runs than Mountcastle after he showed up.

Mountcastle ranked first among AL rookies with a minimum 110 plate appearances in OBP, tied for first in three-hit games (five), second in OPS, batting average and slugging, third in multi-hit games (14), fifth in hits (42), tied for sixth in RBIs and eighth in home runs. His 30 hits and 19 RBIs in September led the Orioles.

He also led the team with 42.7 percent of his batted balls being hard hit as defined by 95-plus mph. He posted a .343 average (12-for-35) with runners in scoring position and .417 (5-for-12) with RISP and two outs.

An earlier promotion to the majors might have pushed Mountcastle into the finalist pool.

He still made a big splash.

I had Lewis first, Roberts second and Indians reliever James Karinchak third on my ballot.

Note: The Orioles promoted Mike Hoppes to the position of senior vice president, chief financial officer. Hoppes will oversee the organization’s finance and accounting functions, including the financial reporting with Major League Baseball and the commissioner’s office.

Hoppes, a University of Delaware graduate approaching his 35th year in the organization, joins the senior leadership team that manages all aspects of business operations.