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“Emerging Talents Steal the Spotlight in Latest Rookie of the Year Survey” – May 2024
May
Emerging Talents Steal the Spotlight in Latest Rookie of the Year Survey
The first month and change of the 2024 season brought its share of surprises — some of which you’ll see reflected below.
With a better sense of this year’s crop of young talent, a panel of voters at MLB.com was asked once again to rank their top five Rookie of the Year candidates in each league based on what they’ve seen and what they expect to unfold over the rest of the season.
Rookies received vote points on a 5-4-3-2-1 scale — five points for a first-place vote, four points for a second-place vote and so on, with 38 voters participating. Here are the results.
All stats updated through Sunday.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
1. Colton Cowser, Orioles (17 first-place votes)
Cowser isn’t the Oriole most expected to be up here — that would be Jackson Holliday, back in Triple-A after a difficult first stint in the Majors — but the rookie they call “The Milkman” definitely earned his way to the top. Baltimore’s surprise standout is hitting .276/.354/.575 with six home runs through Sunday’s action and ranks in the 97th percentile of qualifying Major Leaguers with a punishing 18.5% barrel rate.
2. Mason Miller, A’s (14 first-place votes)
Remove “among rookies” from your vocabulary; Miller was recently named the AL Reliever of the Month for April, and it’s not difficult to understand why. Miller’s velocity has dominated the conversation — his four-seamer has averaged 100.7 mph — but he’s been incredibly effective to back that up, pitching to a 1.26 ERA with 29 strikeouts in 14 1/3 innings and generating a 48.1% whiff rate (100th percentile).
3. Evan Carter, Rangers (5 first-place votes)
Carter isn’t the only Rangers rookie off to a slow start in 2024 — teammate Wyatt Langford, who finished first in last month’s Rookie of the Year poll, is in the same boat and just went on the injured list — but his strong performance through the Rangers’ 2023 World Series run (and the five home runs he’s already managed through May 5) is so far carrying some of the weight of his .227 AVG.
4. Wyatt Langford, Rangers (2 first-place votes)
Most ballots were submitted before Langford hit the injured list with a Grade 1 hamstring strain on Monday. However, as of now, the injury is only expected to cost him about a month, which would hardly put him out of the running for the Rookie of the Year Award. Voters are evidently still reasonably high on Langford’s impressive spring and his mature approach despite his rough start to the year — 1 HR (inside-the-parker), .588 OPS through 31 games — although his share of first-place votes has fallen by 22 voters.
5. Wilyer Abreu, Red Sox
An entirely new addition, Abreu didn’t receive a single vote in the first Rookie of the Year poll back in early April, but he has played his way into consideration by hitting .297 with two home runs and five stolen bases in the early going. He’s also helped to spell fellow Red Sox rookie Ceddanne Rafaela, who hasn’t started off quite so well despite his higher stock.
Others receiving votes: Luis Gil, NYY; Wenceel Pérez, DET; Ceddanne Rafaela, BOS; Kyle McCann, OAK; Junior Caminero, TB; Cooper Criswell, BOS; Jackson Holliday, BAL; Cade Smith, CLE; Kyle Manzardo, CLE; Nolan Schanuel, LAA; Hunter Gaddis, CLE
