He would beat the previous 'record' of 32. Assuming Benintendi lives up to the hype, Yuli would have to statistically dominate him as voters would (rightfully so in my opinion) give preference to the guy who hasn't been playing professionally for 15 years.
He's having a good season so far but Haniger was flat out destroying the league before he got injured. Aaron Judge and Benetendi are also having a strong early showing. I think he'd have to be significantly better than those other guys to win the award, both because he's older and plays a much less valuable defensive position. That being said I'll take a .347/.361/.514 slash line with 151 WRC+ every day of the week and twice on Tuesdays. He's definitely flashing the talent that had people saying he was a top 10 player in the world in his prime in Cuba.
It's soooo early. It's the equivalent of talking about nba rookie of the year after 12 games! I like where you're head is at though.
I'm going with not possible. I am pretty sure he was on Astros roster last year long enough to use up rookie eligibility (though not enough PAs for everyone's prospect criteria that MLB doesn't care about). As he didn't win last season...he won't be ROY.
Got curious so I looked it up. I was wondering why I couldn't find him on the Fangraphs rookie leaderboard. You are correct, he is not eligible for ROY. But he actually didn't lose ROY eligibility by time on the ball club. He lost it on AB's. The current criteria are: 1. <130 AB's or <50 IP 2. <45 days on active roster (excluding DL time) BEFORE Sept. 1 call-ups. He was up on 8/21 but had exactly 130 AB's. Clearly no one was thinking about his future ROY eligibility like the Braves were with Dansby Swason (exactly 129 AB's last year).
130 at bats is Ok to retain rookie status. 131 would put him over the edge EDIT player shall be considered a rookie unless, during a previous season or seasons, he has (a) exceeded 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues; or (b) accumulated more than 45 days on the active roster of a Major League club or clubs during the period of 25-player limit (excluding time in the military service and time on the disabled list).
Seemed like he was up longer last year. I stand corrected on his time on active roster and as such, his eligibility.
It's somewhat unclear from different sources. Baseball America expressly said the following AND listed Gurriel as rookie eligible in 2017. Link But the MLB.com website and Baseball Reference both say under 130AB's.
I'll go with the fact the Astros and MLB have said he is considered a rookie. Here is the official rule from MLB Which supersedes everything http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/about_mlb/rules_regulations.jsp
Lol i looked over that page at least twice while I was googling the ROY criteria and I must have glossed over it twice. Touche.
IIRC he was only off by 1 AB so I think they knew his status and tried to keep him a rookie for this year..
http://www.espn.com/mlb/stats/batting/_/position/rookie/sort/WARBR/order/true He is listed as rookie on espn's website.