It is time to start the Brad Lord National League Rookie of the Year campaign. In what is a weaker field of NL rookies, it is shocking how little attention Brad Lord has gotten. Despite being one of the most productive rookies in the league, odds makers are not even listing him on their sites.
Players like Warming Bernabel and Hurston Waldrep, who have very limited playing time are getting listed, but Brad Lord is nowhere to be found. A 25 year old who has been going back and forth from the bullpen
to the rotation is not the sexiest choice, but he is putting up great numbers.
In 91 innings, Lord has a 3.26 ERA across 40 outings, 11 of which were starts. Lord ranks at or near the top of so many pitching categories for NL rookies. While he doesn’t provide the flash or sizzle some voters want, if they do a deep dive, he is tough to keep off the ballot.
With a rotation spot locked down the rest of the season, Lord has a big chance to improve his standing down the stretch. If he can go deep into games and pitch well like he has done lately, his numbers will become undeniably excellent.
Right now the two front runners for the award are Braves catcher Drake Baldwin and Brewers outfielder Isaac Collins. Both are having great seasons, but neither are having the kind of monster year to run away with the award.
Neither player has had a full time workload. Collins was a platoon player until his performance forced the Brewers to play him every day relatively recently. He is also a 28 year old rookie, something that shouldn’t impact voters but is likely to be in the back of their minds when voting.
Baldwin has been one of the best catchers in the National League. However, Sean Murphy, another great catcher, is on his team. That means Baldwin will not get the everyday reps to run away with the award. If Baldwin did get that playing time, I personally think he would run away with the award. He would probably be my pick at this time.
However, this leaves the door open for a guy like Lord. Nobody outside of DC is talking about him, or really even knows who he is. We need to let the baseball world know who he is. Lord is outperforming hyped up rookies like Chase Burns and Jacob Misiorowski, but he is being ignored.
Brad Lord is a guy who was an 18th round pick, who worked at Home Depot in the offseason. Now he is the Nationals best pitcher. If the Nats weren’t so awful or in a bigger market, Lord would be one of the more publicized feel good stories in all of baseball. However, he is in DC where he remains anonymous to all but the most die hard fans.
Will Brad Lord win Rookie of the Year? No, he won’t. Does he deserve to win it? Not as of this moment, even if he should be getting much more attention. However, he should be one of the top five candidates. Nationals fans need to rally around the 25 year old and bring his name into the public imagination.
This has been a dark season for the Nats, but Brad Lord brings some light to the darkness every time he takes the mound. The fans need to repay him and show him some love. Brad Lord may not be the Rookie of the Year, but he is MY Rookie of the Year.
