Fifty-one weeks after he was a footnote transaction, reliever Alberto ("Al-Al") Alburquerque has become a household name in Detroit — although notsomuch amongst New York talk radio hosts like Mike Francessa.

Wednesday, it was announced that he'd been named the 2011 Detroit Tigers Rookie of the Year by the Detroit Sports Broadcasters' Association, an award the organization has handed out since 1969.

Alburquerque was well worth the big-league contract the Tigers handed him, signing him the same day they inked set-up man Joaquin Benoit, finishing as the leader among American League relievers in batting average allowed (.142), as well as hits (4.36) and strikeouts (13.92) per nine innings. His strikeout rate and average allowed were the best numbers recorded by a Tigers reliever in the post-World War II era.

As a rookie, Alburquerque finished 6-1 with a 1.87 ERA in 41 outings, not allowing a single earned run after his September return from injury, but had a postseason ERA of 13.50 in four playoff outings. The rust on his arm from missing time with a forearm injury and the much-publicized batting practice concussion limited his ability to contribute in the postseason, hamstringing the Tigers at the end of games, forcing them to go almost exclusively with Benoit and closer Jose Valverde.

General manager Dave Dombrowski didn't seem to indicate any need to improve the back end of the Tigers' bullpen before next season, trusting that Alburquerque can snap back to form with an offseason of rest.

"You've got Valverde, you've got Benoit, Alburquerque was a little bit of an unusual situation at the end of the year, but he'll be healthy, so that's three guys that have established themselves from the right side," Dombrowski said.

Here's a quick synopsis of all the postseason awards garnered by Detroit Tigers players after the conclusion of the 2011 season:

MIGUEL CABRERA
• Miguel Cabrera wins Luis Aparicio Award
(best Venezuelan player in MLB)

JUSTIN VERLANDER
• Verlander named to The Sporting News' AL All-Star team (unanimous selection)
• Verlander named The Sporting News' MLB Player of the Year
• Verlander wins a pair of Players Choice awards, becoming the second pitcher to win Player of the Year.
• Verlander wins his first AL Cy Young award.
• Verlander bucks the odds, voter bias to become first pitcher in 19 years to win AL Most Valuable Player award.

ALEX AVILA
• Avila named as the catcher for The Sporting News' AL All-Star team
• Avila a finalist for AL Gold Glove at catcher.
• Avila wins his first Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Award.

JOSE VALVERDE
• Valverde named MLB Delivery Man of the Year (best reliever in MLB)

AUSTIN JACKSON
• Jackson a finalist for AL Gold Glove in center field.
• With his league-leading 22 runs saved, Jackson wins the Fielding Bible's 2011 award for center fielders.

AL ALBURQUERQUE
• Al-Al was named the 2011 Detroit Tigers Rookie of the Year by the Detroit Sports Broadcasters' Association.

Here's the video footage of Tigers rookie reliever Al Alburquerque getting hit in the head during batting practice before Friday's game.

The Tigers have made it official that phenom rookie reliever Al Alburquerque is headed to the 15-day disabled list with "right forearm flexor mass inflammation." They've called up Lester Oliveros to fill his spot on the active roster.

John Wagner of the Toledo Blade first reported Thursday night that the Tigers had promoted the fireballing youngster Oliveros from Triple-A Toledo, and replaced him on the Mud Hens roster with Chance Ruffin from Double-A Erie.

Fox Sports' Jon Paul Morosi later reported that the Tigers had placed Alburquerque on the disabled list. Alburquerque struggled through 42 pitches in 1 1/3 innings in Detroit's 16-9 loss to the Mets Wednesday.

Oliveros is a fireballer with a mid-90s fastball and control issues (his WHIP at Toledo was 1.54), but he was 2-0 with a 0.56 ERA and a K/BB ratio of 27/4 at Erie before earning his last promotion. Ruffin was one of the Tigers' two supplemental first-round draft picks in 2010. He had a 2.12 ERA in 34 innings at Erie, limiting opposing hitters to a .190 average.

Alburquerque leads all American League relievers with 14.59 strikeouts per nine innings, and is tied for the AL lead in relief wins (5). He has stranded 21 of 23 inherited runners and allows opponents to hit just .147 against him — second-best among AL relievers.

"He was a godsend. If it wasn’t for Alburquerque, we’d be six or seven games less than we are right now," manager Jim Leyland said last weekend of the rookie who has taken a lot of the high-leverage innings late in ballgames this year.
"You could make a case for — without getting carried away — you could make a case for obviously (Justin) Verlander, obviously (Jose) Valverde. But you could make a case for Alburquerque after that being our most valuable pitcher up to this point."

The Tigers had hopes that Joel Zumaya and Ryan Perry would be able to handle that seventh-inning role this season, but injuries and inefficiency has precluded either pitcher from stepping forward, forcing the Tigers to turn to Alburquerque.

"We’re Zumaya-less, obviously, and we were basically Perry-less, so this was a godsend. This has turned out to be a great sign. And I thought it was a great sign when I saw him in spring training, but I wasn’t sure what would happen," Leyland said. "When I saw him in spring training, I thought ‘Wow. This is some kind of slider with some kind of arm.’ I don’t know if he’ll throw it in the ocean. But he's been fantastic. He's saved us."

Alburquerque's disabled list stint is retroactive to June 30, making him eligible to come off the DL on July 15, for the Tigers' first game after the All-Star break, the start of a three-game series in Chicago.

In other injury news, Carlos Guillen's injury rehab assignment was transferred from Class A Lakeland to Triple-A Toledo. That's a good sign for the likelihood of him coming back sooner rather than later, since it's likely more about timing rather than health at this point.