MLB: Three under the radar Rookie of the Year candidates
By Nick Stevens
These MLB stars will certainly be in the discussion for Rookie of the Year honors.
With less than two weeks to go in the 2020 MLB regular season, we have a pretty good idea of who will take home Rookie of the Year honors in both the American and National League.
The American League race is down to two candidates, Seattle Mariners outfielder Kyle Lewis and Chicago White Sox outfielder Luis Robert. As to who should win the award, that’s for another piece (but my vote would go to Lewis).
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In the National League, it’s going to take quite the end of season performance to take the award away from San Diego Padres infielder Jake Cronenworth. Cronenworth has been worth 1.7 Wins Above Replacement in his first year with the Friars, which is a full win higher than the next NL rookie on that list (that player’s name will be coming up later).
For those who love following prospects, the 2020 season was an unbelievable year in terms of prospect debuts. Joey Bart, Alec Bohm, Gavin Lux, Nick Madrigal, Sixto Sanchez, and many, many more top prospects are all in the big leagues and finding various degrees of success.
It’s impossible to pick just three additional rookies to discuss as players who may receive a few votes for Rookie of the Year honors at the end of the season, but that’s what we’re going to limit this piece to.
Let’s look at one American League rookie who could end up joining Lewis and Robert as finalists, and two National League rookies who may join Cronenworth among the leaders once final votes are tallied.