Dominant rookies reminiscent of Pujols, Ichiro
by Anthony Castrovince Nov 11th 2017
原文网址：https://goo.gl/MGxVPF
We are awaiting the Rookie of the Year Award announcements but not really
the results. It is all but a foregone conclusion that on Monday night
(6 ET, MLB Network), Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge will be named the 2017
American League Rookie of the Year Award winner by the Baseball Writers'
Association of America, and Dodgers first baseman Cody Bellinger will win
the National League honor.
What's striking, though, about the certainty of these selections is how
uncertain they would have seemed back on Opening Day. Judge had a terrible
big league break-in toward the end of 2016, batting .179 with 42 strikeouts
in 84 at-bats. And it would have been hard to guess Bellinger would be in
the Majors and impacting the Dodgers by the end of April ("Honestly, I thought
I was going to be a September callup," he said last month). These were
well-regarded prospects, but not upper-echelon ones in the realm of Angels
outfielder Mike Trout and Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper, who rocked
our rookie world together, as anticipated, in '12.
虽然今年的新人王尚未公布，但毫无疑问“法官”Aaron Judge和道奇一垒手Cody
Bellinger会分别是今年的美联和国联的新人王。不过有趣的是，回到开季时大多数的
人都不会选择这两位为今年的新人王，法官在2016年有个非常糟糕的大联盟初体验，
只有.179的打击率，在84个打数就被三振了42次，更别说没人想到Bellinger会从四月
底以来就带给道奇这么大的影响，连Bellinger也说“说实在的，我以为我九月扩编时
才会上大联盟”，虽然他们都是备受期待的顶级新秀，但还不到Bryce Harper跟Mike
Trout在2012登上大联盟时那么让人期待。
This combination of unexpected excellence leading to expected accolades
harkens back to 2001, when Albert Pujols and Ichiro Suzuki emerged on the
big league scene. Like Bellinger and Judge, the duo unpredictably pushed
their teams to the postseason, with Ichiro joining Fred Lynn as the only
rookies to win the ROY and Most Valuable Player awards. (Judge, an AL MVP
Award finalist, could become the third.)
而上一次有这样出乎意料的新人王组合要回到2001年，当“生化人”Albert Pujols
跟“朗神”Ichiro Suzuki第一次踏上大联盟的舞台时。就像Judge和Bellinger，
这两位准名人堂球员也分别带领自己的球队闯进了季后赛，一朗甚至加入Fred Lynn，
成为史上第二位同时拿下新人王跟MVP殊荣的超级新人。（Judge也名列MVP最终名单，
有机会成为第三人）
"People were skeptical of Ichiro coming to play over here," said then-Mariners
general manager Pat Gillick, who signed Ichiro. "And the fact that Pujols
has gone on for so many years? If anybody can forecast that, they're better
than I am."
We couldn't forecast it, but we can look back on it. Here are the stories of
2001's rousing rookies.
“人们总是质疑一朗是否能在大联盟生存”签下一朗的水手队前总管Pat Gillick说到，
“但事实上，Pujols过去也没有令人印象深刻的实绩，如果有水晶球能预测的话，他们
自然能做得比我更好”
我们自然是无法预测，但我们可以回顾历史，回顾2001年这两位不世出得超级新人
Albert's arrival
The Cardinals selected Pujols with the 402nd pick of the 1999 Draft, and
that's still an amazing sentence to type. Two hundred and ninety of the
players who went before him never played a game in the Majors. Every team
passed multiple times on the power-hitting shortstop from Maple Woods Community
College (Mo.), the kid who hadn't been drafted after high school.
St. Louis finally picked Pujols and gave him a $30,000 signing bonus,
with another $30,000 promised for his college tuition, should baseball not
work out.
红雀队在1999年的选秀会上以总顺位第402位选到Albert Pujols，这个砂砾中挖
到珍珠的故事，时至今日依然被人们传颂著，在Pujols前面有290位球员从未登上大联盟
过，每一支球队都错过Pujols很多次，这位来自Maple Woods社区大学的游击手。
红雀队最后选到了Pujols并给他30,000的签约金，并额外给他30,000作为大学学费，
作为棒球无法成为他的职业的保险。
Spoiler alert: It worked out. But even when Pujols was on the verge of his
2001 breakout, the Cardinals had no idea the full extent of what they had.
Coming off a 95-win season in which they fell just short of the World Series,
the Cards certainly didn't have Pujols penciled into their roster plans.
Pujols was a non-roster invitee to Spring Training in 2001, wearing jersey
No. 68 and having played only three games above Class A. He was on-hand,
but off the radar … until he started hitting. He homered and tripled in the
Cards' first intrasquad game, and perhaps that should have been the first clue.
很明显的不需要多余的保证，他就是职业级的选手。然而，在新人年Pujols缴出
爆炸成绩之前，前一年拿下95胜的红雀队，认为距离世界大赛只有一步之遥，开季的名
单中自然完全看不到Pujols这个13轮选秀的新人。所幸，Pujols还是受邀参加2001年的
春训，穿着68号的球衣且在高阶一A只打了三场比赛，所以就算有在春训名单中，也完
全不在大家关注的名单中，直到他在红雀队内的练习赛上场打击，分别敲出全垒打和三
垒安打后，大家才开始发现这位21岁的小伙子，而这或许是他即将爆发的起点而已。
"I was just excited to be around the big league club," Pujols said, 16 years
later. "I wasn't really expecting to make the team, but I also prepared
myself that offseason and got to Spring Training and pretty much took
advantage of every opportunity they gave me."
Then-Cardinals manager Tony La Russa would update the media on his thoughts
about Pujols, which quickly evolved from certainty that he'd head back to the
Minors to open-mindedness to the idea of him sticking with the big league
ballclub. La Russa has since dismissed as "myth" the idea that it was Bobby
Bonilla's pulled hamstring that allowed Pujols a spot on the roster, but it's
possible that's a bit of revisionist history.
Whatever the particulars, the 21-year-old Pujols batted sixth and played left
field when Opening Day arrived on April 2, 2001, in Colorado.
“我非常兴奋可以来到大联盟看看”16年前的Pujols说，“我并不认我可以留在
开季名单中，我只是尽力在休赛季做好准备，并把握每一个在春训的表现机会”，红
雀前总教练Tony La Russa告知媒体关于Pujols的想法，而这想法也迅速地付诸实行，
Pujols不用再回到小联盟，会留在开季名单中，也曾有谣传Tony La Russa刻意拉下受伤
的Bobby Bonilla，让Pujols有更多上场的机会。无论如何，21岁的Pujols就是在2001年
开幕战担任第六棒守左外野。
Pujols didn't know if he'd remain with the club past that first series against
the Rockies