2016 Arch Awards: Aledmys Díaz Was the Rising Star of St. Louis Sports
Our readers voted and decided that St. Louis Cardinals rookie shortstop Aledmys Díaz was the rising star of St. Louis sports in 2016.
Last week, we began rolling out the nominees for our 2016 Arch Awards, which pay tribute to the best people, teams, and events in St. Louis sports each year. Our category for today is the Rising Star award, which goes to the rookie who made the most profound impact on their team during the 2016 calendar year.
Our nominees this year were Missouri Tigers freshman running back Damarea Crockett, Mizzou basketball guard Frankie Hughes, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Alex Reyes and shortstop Aledmys Díaz. Much like the voting for our first award, the Best Under-the-Radar Performer, which went to Cardinals infielder Jedd Gyorko, the competition wasn’t really close.
Díaz earned 71 percent of the vote for a decisive victory. Despite logging less time than any of the other nominees, Reyes earned 21 percent of the vote, while Crockett earned eight percent and Hughes didn’t get a single vote.
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That wasn’t a surprising outcome at all, as Díaz had the most impressive rookie season by any Cardinals rookie since Albert Pujols in 2001. Díaz became the first Cardinals rookie All-Star since Pujols and just the sixth in franchise history. After earning his first big-league call-up on the second day of the regular season, Díaz quickly earned the Cardinals’ starting shortstop job and posted a ridiculous .423/.453/.732 slash line with four homers and 13 RBI during his first month.
While it’d be impossible for any player to maintain that pace, Díaz did a pretty good job of remaining dominant at the plate, posting a .300/.369/.510 slash line over 460 plate appearances while still managing to hit for 17 homers and drive in 65 runs despite missing a month with a broken hand.
The 26-year-old struggled with defense, especially early on in the season, but by the second half he developed into a rather solid shortstop with impressive range. The Cardinals have expressed faith in him as their shortstop of the future this offseason, resisting the temptation to acquire a more defensively-minded shortstop and move Díaz to second or third base.
It will be very interesting to see whether Díaz can maintain his status as an elite top-of-the-order hitter next season.
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For now, though, we’ll appreciate him as the biggest new star on the St. Louis sports scene in 2016 and one of the best rookie performers that the city has seen in a long time.