Chasing The Storm 2048-1 Rookie of the Year

[njherdfan]

The Seattle Storm went 62-100 on the season. Fear not; there will be plenty of discussion of what went wrong (quite a bit), what went right (almost nothing), and what might come next (good question!). We'll get to all of that, but first, let's take a look at something that might, perhaps, be a bit more enjoyable. Let's take a look at Seattle's top performing rookie!

The problem with selecting a rookie of the year from a team that went 62-100 is that there might not be a ton of great rookie performances to choose from, and that's certainly the case for the 2048 Storm. Despite that small obstacle, it's clear that Seattle's top rookie was starting pitcher Malcolm Jolly.

Jolly came into the Seattle system as an unheralded international free agent from Australia, and he spent most of the next few years slowly working his way up the organizational ladder. Even at the conclusion of the 2047 season, there was not too much buzz about Jolly, and no one expected him to play a major role for Seattle. However, scouts were impressed by Jolly's off-season improvements, and in spring training, he showed that he was one of Seattle's top 5 starters. Jolly made the big league club out of spring training, and he never looked back.

Jolly made 32 starts this season, and he, rather embarrassingly, led Seattle with 12 wins, as he somehow had a record of 12-8, in case you needed more evidence that pitcher wins are a meaningless statistic. Jolly threw 179 innings and struck out 156 hitters, and had an ERA of 4.22. While Jolly's a bit of an older rookie, at 24 years old, those numbers seem to indicate that there's at least some room for growth. As SEattle's future does not look particularly bright, there's no question that Jolly will have a long leash and, as long as he stays healthy, he'll be sure to throw quite a few innings over the next several years.