NewsBeinfest expresses pride in Coghlan's feat
Marlins president: 'We have a very good young player'
By Alden Gonzalez / MLB.com
11/16/09 7:34 PM EST
Chris Coghlan's latest accomplishment continued the Marlins' streak of three. That is, three Rookie of the Year Award winners in franchise history, each coming three years apart.
Dontrelle Willis started it off when he claimed the award for the National League in 2003, Hanley Ramirez followed suit in '06, and Coghlan capped another one when he was voted the winner by the Baseball Writers' Association of America on Monday.
Not bad for the Marlins, a low-payroll franchise that has to rely on cost-efficient players and a talented crop of prospects to compete in the tough NL East year in and year out.
The man who shoulders that task on a daily basis, president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest, is especially pleased.
"It's great, and I know the organization is very proud," Beinfest said in a phone interview Monday.
"It speaks well to the organization -- to our scouting and our development people. In terms of the guys that we traded for in Willis and Hanley, it speaks well to our professional scouts. So it's a good thing for everybody in the organization, and hopefully we'll keep it going."
Coghlan got 17 first-place votes to notch 105 points and beat out second-place finisher J.A. Happ, who got 10 votes for first place and finished with 94 points.
The 24-year-old Coghlan was called up from Triple-A New Orleans on May 8 and had to adjust to batting leadoff and playing left field for the first time.
After the All-Star break, the transition looked seamless.
2009 nl roy voting
| Player | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Coghlan | 17 | 6 | 2 | 105 |
| J.A. Happ | 10 | 11 | 11 | 94 |
| Tommy Hanson | 2 | 6 | 9 | 37 |
| Andrew McCutchen | 2 | 5 | x | 25 |
| Casey McGehee | 1 | 3 | 4 | 18 |
| Randy Wells | x | 1 | x | 3 |
| Garrett Jones | x | x | 2 | 2 |
| Everth Cabrera | x | x | 1 | 1 |
| Dexter Fowler | x | x | 1 | 1 |
| Gerardo Parra | x | x | 1 | 1 |
| Colby Rasmus | x | x | 1 | 1 |
Coghlan was hitting a pedestrian .245 going into the Midsummer Classic, but in the second half, he sizzled, notching a Major League-leading 113 hits and a .372 batting average that paced the NL.
The lefty contact hitter finished his first season in the big leagues leading all rookies in batting average (.321), runs (84), hits (162), doubles (31) and on-base percentage (.390).
"His learning curve was just very short," Beinfest said. "He picked things up quickly.
"It was apparent to everybody in the organization always that he was going to hit, it was only a matter of time. And he shortened that matter of time by adjustments he made and how comfortable he looked in the big leagues."
Beinfest said Coghlan "did a great job" at left field and that he was "quite pleased" with his everyday defense.
The move to left field was necessary with two-time All-Star Dan Uggla manning second base. But there has been wide speculation that Uggla could be traded this offseason, and if that happens, Coghlan said Monday he would like to be considered as a second baseman.
For now, Beinfest will see how the offseason plays out.
"We know he can play second, we know he can play third, we know he can do those things," Beinfest said. "But we have a pretty good second baseman in Dan Uggla, and Jorge Cantu is over at third, and he's done a great job for us the last couple of years between first and third. We'll see how things go. I don't want to get into what-ifs or what's going to happen. All we do know is that we have a very good young player that can play multiple positions, and that's a good thing."
Alden Gonzalez is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
