Several young pitchers are in the mix for Rookie of the Year honors in 2009. Most of them, such as Rick Porcello, Jeff Niemann and J.A. Happ, can be found on nearly every top prospects list.

Each league, however, has a surprise candidate who has seemingly come out of nowhere to figure among the best pitchers of the 2009 rookie class.

In the American League, Toronto's Ricky Romero is 10-4 in 17 starts, and only eight AL pitchers have more wins in 2009. No major league rookie has more than the 24-year-old left-hander, who had struggled the previous three seasons in Double-A ball before making the Toronto roster this spring. His walk rate suggested he didn’t have the command to be a double-digit winner, but he, Porcello and Niemann all have 10 wins.

In the National League, the biggest surprise is the Cubs’ Randy Wells. The 26-year-old right-hander had improved steadily over three seasons with Triple-A Iowa prior to 2009, then took a huge step there this spring. After dominating in five Triple-A starts, Wells was recalled to start in Milwaukee on May 8, in place of the injured Carlos Zambrano. The rookie blanked the Brewers for five innings and never gave up his spot in the Cubs rotation.

As a result of his May arrival, Wells is a few innings short of qualifying for the ERA title and needs another start to reach the minimum. If the minimum is 100 innings pitched, Wells has the lowest ERA of the 2009 rookie class.

Lowest ERA among 2009 Rookies
(min 100 IP)

Rookie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .IP. . . . . . . W-L. . . . . . .ERA
Randy Wells, ChC. . . . . . .102.1. . . . . . 8-4. . . . . . . 2.73
J.A. Happ, Phi. . . . . . . . .115.0. . . . . . 8-2. . . . . . . 2.74
Brad Bergesen, Bal. . . . . 123.1. . . . . . 7-5. . . . . . . 3.43
Ricky Romero, Tor. . . . . .109.2. . . . . 10-4. . . . . . . 3.53
Jeff Niemann, TB. . . . . . .114.1. . . . . 10-5. . . . . . . 3.62

Wells hasn’t given up more than four runs in any of his 16 outings, and he’s worked a dozen quality starts. Poor run support kept Wells from posting a “W” his first seven times out, but since then -- in nine starts since Jun 21 -- he is 8-1 with a 2.85 ERA.

As for Romero, he allowed a total of four runs in his first three major league starts in April before an oblique strain forced him on the disabled list for five weeks. He was roughed up and took two of his four losses in his first two outings after he returned. Since then, he’s 8-2 with a 3.29 ERA in 12 starts.