deGrom was voted top rookie by fellow National League players.
The official MLB hardware has not been handed out yet, but the quest of Jacob deGrom to be named National League Rookie of the Year was boosted today by the Sporting News. The organization named the former college shortstop as the top NL rookie as a result of a voting process by fellow senior circuit players.
deGrom came out of relative obscurity this season to pitch brilliantly for the Mets in 2014. After being called up in mid-May and struggling through his first month-and-a-half as a big leaguer, deGrom was dominant for much of the campaign's final three months. He finished the year with a 2.69 ERA and 1.14 WHIP.
With a strikeout rate of 25.5 percent and a 3.03 xFIP, nothing about deGrom's performance in 2014 seemed fluky. It was an easy choice to hand him the Piazza Award for Best Rookie.
The "real" hardware will be a tougher decision for voters. In the Sporting News voting, deGrom finished just four votes ahead of runner-up Billy Hamilton. Given the speedster's penchant for stealing bases and playing terrific defense, it wouldn't be shocking to see the MLB award voting go in a different direction.