The American League Rookie of the Year was announced on Monday and Texas Rangers rookie closer Neftali Feliz takes home the top honor for rookie.  Feliz received 71% percent of the first place votes taking 20 out of a possible 28.  He is the first Texas Ranger to receive rookie of the year honors since Mike Hargrove won the award in 1974. 

If Feliz played poker games, they would call him the nuts as he save 40 out of the 70 games that he appeared in for 2010.  Those 40 saves set a MLB record for number of saves by a rookie.  Kazuhiro Sasaki set the record in 2000 with 37. 

Feliz started his pro baseball career in 2005 when he was signed by the Atlanta Braves organization.  In 2007, he was part of a trade that sent him to the Texas Rangers farm system where he played until 2009. He was called up by the Texas Ranger in August 2009 and appeared in 20 games for the club.  He went 1-0 with 2 saves and a 1.74 ERA.  This allowed him to win the closers role in 2010 and the rest has been history.

Mac poker sites would lay odds on any player with this the type of numbers that Feliz put up.  In addition to his 40 saves, he went 4-3 with 71 strikeouts and an ERA of 2.73.  In addition, opponents batted on .173 against him and he had 3 holds.  Finally, Feliz only blew 3 saves out of 70 games.  And let’s not forget his postseason performance.  He appeared in 7 games and gave up only 1 run over 7.1 innings pitched.  He also had one save. 

If Feliz can put together another stellar performance in 2011, he will not have to worry about how he will come up with poker payment methods as he will command a hefty contract come renewal.  Of course, the rookie of the year does not guarantee a superstar career.  Fernando Valenzuela is a great example of a pitcher that started hot and then fizzled.   However, Feliz is showing all the signs of being a superstar caliber player.  Barring any sort of a sophomore jinx, Feliz should give the Rangers a great chance of making it back to the playoffs in 2011 and possibly even a repeat trip to the World Series.