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NEW YORK (AP) — Shohei Ohtani was rewarded for a Ruthian season at the plate — and on the mound.Baseball’s best two-way player since the Babe at the dawn of the live-ball era a century ago http://www.whitesoxfanproshop.com/authentic-paul-konerko-jersey , Ohtani was an overwhelming pick for American League Rookie of the Year on Monday despite an elbow injury that stymied his switch from Japan to the major leagues and likely will prevent him from pitching next year.“I was just kind of disappointed I wasn’t able to play a full season,” he said through a translator. “I feel like every player should be able to play a full year and help out the team. So that’s something I need to work on, and that’s going to be one of my goals, to stay healthy for a long full season and be able to the team win from day one.”Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. was a runaway choice for the NL honor over Washington outfielder Juan Soto in a contest between 20-year-olds.A singular sensation who earned a chorus of praise for his dual success, Ohtani became the first player since Ruth in 1919 with 10 homers and four pitching wins in the same season.He didn’t play between June 4 and July 3 because of a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, an injury the Angels were aware of when they signed him for a $2,315,000 bonus last winter. The 24-year-old right-hander made just one more mound appearance, on Sept. 2, and three days later the team said a scan revealed additional damage and surgery was recommended.Ohtani appeared in 22 more games as a hitter, had Tommy John surgery on Oct. 1 and hopes to be able to help the Angels at the plate next season. He probably won’t take the mound again until 2020.“Everything’s going well,” he said. “We’re right on schedule, maybe even a little ahead.”Ohtani, who left the Nippon Ham Fighters to play in the major leagues, received 25 first-place votes and four seconds for 137 points from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. New York Yankees third baseman Miguel Andujar was second with five firsts and 89 points Carlton Fisk Jersey , and Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres was next with 25 points.Ohtani was 4-2 with a 3.31 ERA and 63 strikeouts over 51 2/3 innings in 10 starts. As a designated hitter, he batted .285 with 22 homers and 61 RBIs and a .925 OPS in 367 plate appearances.“Of course, getting hurt is never a good thing,” he said. “I was able to fight through it.”He is the first Japanese player to win a rookie honor since Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki in 2001 and the fourth overall, joining the Dodgers’ Hideo Nomo in 1995 and Seattle’s Kazuhiro Sasaki in 2000. Ohtani became the first player with 15 homers as a batter and 50 strikeouts as a pitcher in the same season.Acuna received 27 first-place votes and three seconds for 144 points. Soto got two firsts and 89 points, and Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler was next with one first and 28 points.Acuna, in Japan with a major league All-Star team, declined to participate in a morning conference call about the vote, BBWAA secretary-treasurer Jack O’Connell said.Acuna started the season at Triple-A and made his debut on April 25, the youngest player in the majors then at 20 years, 128 days. The Venezuelan hit .293 with 26 homers, 64 RBIs and 16 steals with a .917 OPS. He set a Braves record with eight leadoff homers this season and tied a franchise mark by homering in five straight games from Aug. 11-14.Soto debuted on May 20 at 19 years, 207 days, although in a quirk the Dominican is credited with a home run from five days before his debut — he went deep on June 18 against the New York Yankees in the completion of the May 15 suspended game. Soto hit .292 with 22 homers, 70 RBIs and a .923 OPS. He was two shy of Tony Conigliaro’s big league record for home runs by a teenager.The AL and NL Manager of the Year will be announced Tuesday. Boston’s Alex Cora Jose Abreu Jersey , Tampa Bay’s Kevin Cash and Oakland’s Bob Melvin are the finalists for the AL honor and Atlanta’s Brian Snitker, Milwaukee’s Craig Counsell and Colorado’s Bud Black are the finalists for the NL award. NEW YORK (AP) — James Paxton spent the first two months of the 2016 season in the minor leagues after an awful spring training caused his demotion.When he returned to the majors, he quickly emerged as the Mariners’ ace, and now the Yankees hope he can bolster the thin rotation that contributed to New York’s loss to Boston in the AL Division Series. New York acquired the 30-year-old left-hander from the rebuilding Seattle Mariners on Monday for top prospect Justus Sheffield and two other minor leaguers.“I think I’ll be a great fit. They seem very committed to winning, and so am I,” Paxton said.New York sent the left-handed Sheffield to the Mariners along with right-hander Erik Swanson and outfielder Dom Thompson-Williams.Paxton turned 30 on Nov. 6 and went 11-6 with a 3.76 ERA in 28 starts last season, including a 16-strikeout start against Oakland on May 2 and a no-hitter at Toronto six days later. He struck out 208 and walked 42 in a career-high 160 1/3 innings, allowing 23 home runs.Paxton is 41-26 in six major league seasons, making six trips to the disabled list in the last five years. He missed nearly four months with a strained left latissimus dorsi muscle in 2014, 3½ months with a strained tendon in left middle finger in 2015, 10 days with a bruised left elbow in 2016, 3½ weeks with a strained left forearm and a month with a strained left pectoral muscle in 2017, and 2½ weeks with lower back inflammation this year.“I continue to try to work towards being healthy for an entire season,” he said. “All the injuries that I’ve had haven’t reoccurred. I’ve learned how to make sure those things don’t happen again through exercise or whatever.”When he went to Triple-A two years ago, he worked with former big league pitcher Lance Painter Melky Cabrera Jersey , who told him to drop his arm angle back to three-quarters. When Paxton returned to the Mariners, he studied reading swings with pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr.“It’s taken me a little longer I think in my career because I have had so much time off,” Paxton said. “But having those larger chunks the last couple years has really allowed me to come into my own and really make some big strides, and I look forward to continuing to make big strides in my game. And I think that my best baseball is still to come.”A proud Canadian born in a fishing village in the suburbs of Vancouver, British Columbia, Paxton is also known for keeping his composure as a bald eagle mistakenly landed on his shoulder prior to a start at Minnesota in April.He joins a rotation projected to include right-handers Luis Severino and Masahiro Tanaka and left-hander CC Sabathia. General manager Brian Cashman wants to add at least one more starter, address the shortstop opening created by Didi Gregorius‘ elbow surgery and add to his bullpen.Paxton made $4.9 million last season and is eligible for salary arbitration. He can become a free agent after the 2020 season.In his one game at Yankee Stadium, Paxton entered with a 10-start unbeaten streak and allowed two-run homers to Aaron Judge and Miguel Andujar in the first inning of a 4-3 loss on June 21 this year.Seattle decided to rebuild after going 89-73 and finishing third in the AL West, 14 games behind division-winning Houston and six back of Oakland.“Clearly we’ve opted 2019 be a year that we take a step back hoping to take two forward,” general manager Jerry Dipoto said. “When I say 2020 and 2021, it’s simply gauging the ages of the players we’re building around here.”Sheffield is rated among the top minor league prospects, made his big league debut in September and pitched in three games for the Yankees. He had a 2.48 ERA in 25 minor league appearances at Double-A and Triple-A this year, striking out 123 in 116 innings and allowing just four home runs.Sheffield had just finished playing golf when he saw Cashman’s number on his cell phone.“Definitely caught me by surprise,” Sheffield said.Sheffield won’t turn 23 until May and could become a future anchor to Seattle’s rotation.Swanson, 25 Jeff Keppinger Jersey , started the year at Double-A Trenton but spent most of 2018 at the Triple-A level with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he made 13 starts and had a 3.86 ERA. Swanson had 78 strikeouts and 14 walks in 72 1/3 innings in Triple-A. He pitched 121 2/3 total innings last season overall and was rated among the top 25 prospects in the Yankees organization by MLB.com.“I think both of them are going to compete for a spot in the rotation,” Dipoto said. “We absolutely expect to see both guys before the summer is through in Seattle and they will start cutting their teeth here and hopefully set us up for what we think will be a pretty exciting group as we enter 2020 and 2021.”Thompson-Williams, 23, has never played above Class A and will turn 24 next April. He had 22 home runs, 20 stolen bases and a .299 average across two Class A affiliates this year.Cashman is aggressively pursuing pitching from outside the organization, even after Sonny Gray flamed out during 1 1/3 seasons with New York, shaken by repeated booing at Yankee Stadium.“I can’t tell you we’ve learned anything further other than we drill down as much as we can, whether with players that have played with somebody as teammates that we know or coaches who have coached or people who have managed or anybody, whether it’s all the way back in the amateur ranks,” Cashman said. “We just try to ask a lot of questions about how they compete. This environment can bring out a different experience for some. So I don’t have a new secret formula to address predictability on who will thrive and survive and who won’t here in New York.”