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MLB Awards: AL Rookie of the Year Award top 5 contenders

By Bobby Mueller

NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 27: Gleyber Torres #25 of the New York Yankees hits a home run in the fourth inning during an MLB baseball game against the Chicago White Sox on August 27, 2018 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City. Chicago won 6-2. (Photo by Paul Bereswill/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 27: Gleyber Torres #25 of the New York Yankees hits a home run in the fourth inning during an MLB baseball game against the Chicago White Sox on August 27, 2018 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City. Chicago won 6-2. (Photo by Paul Bereswill/Getty Images) /
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DETROIT, MI – JULY 1: Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, presents Michael Fulmer #32 of the Detroit Tigers with the Larry Doby Legacy Award for American League Rookie of the Year before game two of a doubleheader against the Cleveland Indians at Comerica Park on July 1, 2017 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Duane Burleson/Getty Images) /

The AL ROY race is one of the closest among MLB awards races as it has five contenders, including a pair of teammates, a dual threat, and two under-the-radar options.

With less than a month to go in the 2018 season, the American League Rookie of the Year race could be one of the tightest races among 2018 MLB awards and one of the closest finishes in the last 10 years. For most of the last decade the AL ROY of the year was a slam-dunk. Last year, Aaron Judge received every first place vote and beat second-place finisher Andrew Benintendi by 75 points. In 2016, Michael Fulmer received 26 of 30 first place votes, with Gary Sanchez getting the remaining four votes.

Going back to 2008, slam-dunk winners include Jose Abreu (30 of 30 first place votes in 2014), Mike Trout (28 of 28 first place votes in 2012), and Evan Longoria (28 of 28 first place votes in 2008). Each of these players was unquestionably the best rookie in the league that year. Two other players received at least 20 first place votes: Wil Myers in 2013 (23 first place votes) and Neftali Feliz in 2010 (20 first place votes).

That leaves just three seasons in the last 10 in which the Rookie of the Year received fewer than 20 first place votes. A close race occurred in 2009, when relief pitcher Andrew Bailey beat out shortstop Elvis Andrus and starting pitcher Rick Porcello. Bailey had 13 first place votes to Andrus’ eight and Porcello’s seven. In 2011, Jeremy Hellickson had 17 first place votes, with the other 11 being distributed among Mark Trumbo (5 votes), Eric Hosmer (4 votes), Ivan Nova (1 vote) and Dustin Ackley (1 vote).

More recently, Carlos Correa and Francisco Lindor had a great battle for the AL ROY Award in 2015. Despite having a higher Fangraphs WAR and Baseball-Reference WAR, Lindor finished behind Correa in the voting. Correa received 17 first place votes to 13 for Lindor.

Unless one of the contenders has a monster month of September, this year’s AL ROY race looks like a rare closely contested competition. I’ve narrowed it down to five contenders. Two are teammates on a playoff-bound team and two are relative unknowns. The fifth is having a historic season that has been limited a bit by injury. Let’s look at the contenders.

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