Rookies are always some of the more exciting players to watch in baseball. In our next MLB awards watch piece, we take a look at the five American League rookies that have provided the most for their teams through June.
Each month, we like to take some time to outline some of the favorites for the various award races around MLB. Of course, these things are bound to change as the season continues, but it can be interesting to assess what we have seen so far. Here, we are going to focus on the American League Rookie of the Year race as it stands right now.
We are now a little over half way through the 2016 season, so while that leaves quite a bit more time for the race to change, it’s also far enough along that some of the flash-in-the-pan contenders have fizzled out.
Houston Astros 1B/DH Tyler White appeared on both the April and May editions of our MLB Awards Watch for AL Rookies, but really hit a rough patch, bringing his season line down to .211/.296/.386 before getting sent down to Triple-A.
The same goes for Byung-ho Park, who dropped all the way down to .191/.275/.409 and was also demoted to Triple-A by the Twins.
At the same time, there are a couple of names who have stuck around this month, and that’s how we begin to see who the real contenders are. All that said, here are our top 5 American League rookies through June.
Honorable mentions: Kansas City Royals utility man Whit Merrifield; Houston Astros pitcher Chris Devenski
Next: Number 5