A dozen MLB rookies playing very well under the radar

MLB teams have seen multiple rookies show excellent production this season, but not always the guys expected.

Anyone can tell you about the exploits of Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger, who are likely the two leading candidates for the Rookie of the Year award, having hit 23 and 19 home runs, respectively, on the season.

Many know the exploits of Andrew Benintendi and Dansby Swanson, both preseason favorites for the ROY awards who struggled to open the season and have both been working their way to positive fWAR values on their seasons.

Instead, let’s take a look at a dozen less-heralded players who are having excellent seasons:

Bradley Zimmer, OF, Cleveland Indians

We will start with the one consensus top 100 prospect of the group we’ll discuss. Zimmer’s by far got the highest pedigree of any player on this article, ranked as high as the #22 prospect in the game by prospect rankers this offseason.

Zimmer is an elite defender with the ability to also provide power and speed offensively, though his swing is long, leading to heavy strikeout totals in the minors and a less-than-attractive contact rate.

Zimmer was called up in mid-May, and he’s played in 27 games since, starting 19 of them. The Indians have been sparse with his time against left-handed pitching, but he has hit well overall, with a .286/.368/.506 slash line with 4 home runs and 6 stolen bases. He’s also walked at over a 10% rate and kept his strikeouts to under 30%, which are both excellent marks for Zimmer.

Obviously, this is still a small sample, as Zimmer has only had 87 plate appearances this season, but it is a positive start for sure.