Tony DeMarco

Baseball Expert Tony DeMarco has been covering the big leagues since 1987, and been casting Hall of Fame ballots for the last 12 years. He answers questions weekly here:

Q: In a stellar year for rookies, who gets your vote for National League Rookie of the Year. (Please consider Jaime Garcia of St. Louis).
— Stephen Shoemaker, Tulsa, Okla.

A: You've got that right, Stephen; this is arguably the best and deepest NL rookie class ever. It's hard to even pick an NL all-rookie team, let alone one rookie of the year, as several positions have a couple of quality candidates:

C Buster Posey; 1B Gaby Sanchez/Ike Davis; 2B Neal Walker/Eric Young Jr.; SS Starlin Castro/Ian Desmond/Alcides Escobar; 3B Chris Johnson/David Freese/Pedro Alvarez; OF Jason Heyward, John Jay, Tyler Colvin, Mike Stanton, Jose Tabata, Roger Bernadina, Domonic Brown; SP Jaime Garcia, Jonathan Niese, Jhoulys Chacin, Mike Leake, Hisanori Takahashi, Stephen Strasburg, RP John Axford, Drew Storen, Jonny Venters.

All those names makes you wish there were two awards — rookie position player of the year, and rookie pitcher of the year. But the real Rookie of the Year ballot has spots for only three names, and if I had one to fill out today, here would be my choices.

Jason Heyward: Forget the .270 batting average; he draws a lot of walks, leading to a .380 on-base percentage (second behind Jay), and the most runs among NL rookies. He also is in the top five in RBIs, homers, multi-hit games, hits, total bases, doubles, triples, stolen bases and extra-base hits, and his defense and throwing are good.

Gaby Sanchez: He's not the biggest name, but he has been the most-productive NL rookie hitter over the full season, leading in RBIs, hits, multi-hit games, total bases, doubles and extra-base hits.

Buster Posey: It's too bad the Giants decided to keep him in the minors until late-May. He's been an offensive force since he arrived, and the Giants took off when he became the regular catcher with the departure of Bengie Molina at the beginning of July.

If it makes you feel any better, Stephen, Garcia would be next on my ballot and would be my pick for rookie pitcher of the year.

Q: Why is it that a sacrifice fly does not charge a batter with an at-bat, but if a batter hits a ground ball in the same situation, he is charged with an at-bat?
— Cyril Bradley, Shelby Township, Mich.

A: This is one of those questions where there is no definitive answer.

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The sacrifice fly was instituted in 1908. As to why, maybe the game's rules makers thought that back then — when about 10 or so homers would lead the league — hitters shouldn't be penalized with an at-bat if a run scored on a fly ball hit deep enough.

Interestingly, the sacrifice fly rule was removed in 1931 — when coincidentally or not, the game was in the midst of an offensive boom.