Settsu Runaway Rookie of the Year; Darvish Wins MVP

Who didn't see this one coming? SoftBank super-rookie Tadashi Settsu has won the well-deserved Pacific League Rookie of the Year Award. Over a stellar campaign, Settsu made 70 appearances, throwing 79 and 2/3 innings and striking out 102 batters in that span, complementing a microscopic 1.47 ERA. He received 177 votes, far and away more than the second-place player, pitcher Kazumasa Kikuchi of Nippon Ham (5-2, 3.67, four votes). More blank ballots were cast (four) than the last two players received combined (Hiromichi Fujiwara, Ryo Hijirisawa, one each).

In other Pacific League award news, Yu Darvish, despite missing time with injury, ran away with the PL Most Valuable Player Award, with teammates Atsunori Inaba and Hisashi Takeda taking second and third place for an all-Nippon Ham podium finish. Darvish received 134 of the 187 first-place votes, heading up a list of nine Fighters who received votes.

Of the 17 players who received votes, two Hawks were on the list: Settsu (one third-place vote) and team ace Toshiya Sugiuchi (three second-place and eight third-place votes). The last Hawk to win the MVP is Nobuhiko Matsunaka, who won it in 2004.