Sox' Ramirez finishes 2nd for AL rookie honor

Evan Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays was the unanimous winner of the American League Rookie of the Year Award on Monday, and White Sox infielder Alexei Ramirez finished well ahead of the rest for second place.

Longoria hit 27 home runs and drove in 102 runs, ranking second on the Rays in both categories and received all 28 first- place votes in the AL.

Ramirez received a total of 59 points to rank behind Longoria (140). His second-place finish is the highest by a White Sox player since right-handed pitcher Shingo Takatsu was second in 2004 and the highest by a Sox infielder since Ozzie Guillen garnered the award in 1985.

Ramirez batted .290 (139-480) with 22 doubles, 21 home runs and 77 RBI for the White Sox in 2008. He established a major-league rookie record with four grand slams and ranked among the AL rookie leaders in home runs (2nd), RBI (2nd), total bases (2nd, 228), average (4th) and slugging percentage (5th, .475).

The Cuban native's 21 home runs marked a club record by a rookie second baseman and finished as the seventh-most in a single season by a Sox rookie. Ramirez ranked fifth in the AL with a .380 average with runners in scoring position.

Ramirez's finish is the best by a Cuban-born player since Tampa Bay's Rolando Arrojo was runner-up to Oakland's Ben Grieve in 1998.