By Christopher Reina Justin Verlander, Jonathan Papelbon and Francisco Liriano were three of the American League's top rookies last season. This year, names like Jeremy Guthrie, Hideki Okajima, Delmon Young, Matt Garza and Daisuke Matsuzaka have been very impressive. 10. Billy Butler, DH, Kansas City Royals Alex Gordon was expected to be the Royals? top rookie this season, but Butler has been far better. Butler was named the AL Rookie of the Month for July, batting .341, with a .921 OPS. 9. Travis Buck, RF, Oakland Athletics Buck has cooled off from his month of May where he posted a 1.098 OPS, but he still has seven homeruns for the season, with an OPS of .826. 8. Brian Bannister, SP, Kansas City Royals Bannister came over from the New York Mets in the Ambiorix Burgos trade. Bannister has been a very solid starter for the Royals, posting an ERA of 3.45 over 107 innings, while striking out 57. 7. Dustin Pedroia, 2B, Boston Red Sox Pedroia is already a Fenway favorite, posting a .320 batting average and four homeruns. He topped out in May with a 1.072 OPS, but has a very solid .831 for the season. 6. Delmon Young, RF, Tampa Bay Devil Rays Young has lost some of his early season pop, but he has improved overall in each month, posting a progressively better OPS, topping out at .806 in July. His batting average for the season is a very promising .292 despite a very high strikeout to walk rate. 5. Matt Garza, SP, Minnesota Twins Garza began starting games for the Twins in early July and has been very impressive. He is only 1-2, but has an ERA of 1.78 over 30.3 innings. Garza is striking out nearly one batter per inning and has limited high-octane offenses such as Detroit and Cleveland. 4. Daisuke Matsuzaka, SP, Boston Red Sox Matsuzaka has settled down from inconsistent months of April and May (4.36, 5.22) to post an ERA of 1.59 in June. He has struck out 152 batters over 151 innings, but his WHIP has been a disappointing 1.265. Matsuzaka has three games where he has struck out 10 batters and three where he has struck out nine. 3. Reggie Willits, LF, Los Angeles Angels Willits was drafted in the 7th round in 2003 out of Oklahoma and has been a high on-base player for the Angels? NL style of play. He is batting .300, while going 22-28 on stolen base attempts. Willits gives the Angels a similar dynamic as Chone Figgins. 2. Hideki Okajima, RP, Boston Red Sox Okajima has been downright dominant this season and has helped give Boston a bullpen which forces opposing lineups to do their damage in the early innings. The lefty from Kyoto has yielded just six earned runs over 54 innings (1.00). His WHIP is 0.815, walking just 12 batters. 1. Jeremy Guthrie, SP, Baltimore Orioles How important would Guthrie be to this season?s playoff race had the Indians not given up on their 1st round pick of the 2002 draft? Guthrie may not have found his 2.98 ERA in Cleveland, but it is impossible not to wonder. Much of his effectiveness has been a result of keeping the bases clear, as evidenced by his 1.085 WHIP, far more so than his 91 strikeouts over 130 innings.