I took a  few days off from the awards, but it’s back to it. Today I will unveil the Royals Blue Aid Rookie of the Year.

Naming the KC Royals Rookie of the Year was probably the easiest decision amongst the awards for me.

Kelvin Herrera

Reliever Kelvin Herrera takes this award, as he had a great rookie season in 2012, culminating with being named to Baseball America’s All-Rookie Team (as the closer).

He finished the season with a 4-3 record and a 2.35 ERA in 76 games. But those numbers don’t speak too how good he was. After May 1st, Herrera struck out 69 in 74.1 innings. He walked 20 in that time frame and did not allow a homerun. In the second half, he went 3-for-4 in save opportunities.

Herrera led all rookie relievers in games and innings pitched. He also led all Royals relievers in those same categories.

His fastball is his best pitch, as he topped out at 103 mph in 2012. He averaged 98.5 mph on his fastball. That fastball makes his high 80s changeup that much better. Batters only put his changeup into play about a quarter of the time. Herrera racked up the strikeouts, but also had a ground ball rate of 55%.

This is the second award for Herrera from RBA (he took the Reliever of the Year award too).

Herrera had a great rookie season, but very few know about him. I’m excited to see what he has in store for 2013.

For the KC Royals to succeed in 2012, they need some help from two of their younger players: third baseman Mike Moustakas and catcher Salvador Perez. These two are expected to hit somewhere in the 6-8 range of the Royals batting order in 2012.

The Royals need more hot streaks than cold streaks from Moustakas. He is a streaky hitter, but he needs to limit those slumps so fans will remember why he is such a coveted player. Moose didn’t show power last season (ten homeruns last year in Triple-A and just five in the big leagues), so he’ll need to produce in other ways until the power returns.

He ended up hitting .263 for the season, as his average climbed after a .400 last ten games of the season. However July was a nightmare for him, as he hit just .160 (after hitting .263 over his first month in the big leagues). The slump carried into early August before he turned it around.

What the Royals need from Perez is the solid defense that he is known for. He showed the same defense he showed in the minor leagues last year when he was finally promoted. It should only get better as he matures in the Majors. Catchers’ defense has declined in the big leagues as more focus has been on offense, so maybe Perez can sneak in and win himself a Gold Glove.

He made a huge jump in 2011, as he reached higher than A-ball for the first time. He flew through both Double-A and Triple-A before reaching the big leagues in August. Perez hit at the big league level a lot better than most people thought. He hit .331 with an on-base percentage of .361. He hit three homeruns, eight doubles, and two triples to go along with his 21 RBIs and 20 runs scored.

I’m not saying he needs to hit .330 in 2012, but hitting .270 or better would be a definite plus.

The rookie status rules confuse me. A rookie is only still considered a rookie if he has not

(a) exceeded 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues; or (b) accumulated more than 45 days on the active roster of a Major League club or clubs during the period of 25-player limit (excluding time in the military service and time on the disabled list).

Well, Perez played in 39 games in 2011 and accumulated 148 at-bats. Thing is, only 68 of those at-bats came prior to September 1st when rosters expanded from 25 to 40. So if the LA Angels Mike Trout can regain rookie status, I believe that Perez is still a rookie. If so, he has a really good chance at winning the American League Rookie of the Year award.

The Royals need every player on their active roster to contribute in some way in 2012 for them to contend for a playoff spot (or to at least finish with a winning record). Young players are sure to have some bumps in the road, but these two need to limit their bumps.