So the Astros have 3 guys who are rookies that are playing very well for all intensive purposes. However I don’t see anything about rookie of the year talk surrounding Yainer or JP. So what is the deal with that? Why aren’t JP France and Yainer Diaz ever mentioned on the top rookies for the year running? I see Hunter Brown talked about a bit, but never the other 2!
The national media is lazy and does not take any extra effort or time to consider anyone new. They look at the pre-season candidates and just go from there unless someone makes Sports Center highlights to attract them.
790 had mentioned JP for ROY in few minutes ago. Media thinks Gunner Henderson is the favorite and still mentions Hunter Brown. Spoiler Welcome to the latest edition of MLB Pipeline’s Rookie Power Rankings. Each month, Pipeline’s experts vote on who we believe are the likeliest Rookie of the Year winners at the end of the season. MLB Pipeline | Top 100 prospects | Prospect video Please make sure you read that last part, because it’s essential: “at the end of the season.” We’re not trying to determine who would win if the awards were handed out today. Of course we consider performance to date, but we balance it with our expectations for the rest of the year. And obviously as the year goes on, players’ actual stats will weigh more heavily, and projections will wash out of the rankings. That also means a season-ending injury can severely affect a player’s standing – see Josh Jung, who fell out of the top 10 this month. The pattern within the rankings remains the same as it has been recently. The top of the list has been pretty static for a while now. Outside the top few names, though, we continue to get plenty of movement. Here are the August rankings. 1. Corbin Carroll, OF, D-backs (previous rank: 1) At one point Carroll looked like a dark-horse MVP candidate, never mind rookie honors. A bit of a second-half slump has taken care of that notion, though he’s surged a bit here lately. His overall numbers remain outstanding, the D-backs remain in contention, and he remains our pick as the single player most likely to bring home a Rookie of the Year trophy in a few months. 2. Gunnar Henderson, 3B, Orioles (previous rank: 2) The shape of Henderson’s season is a lot different from Carroll’s -- he started very slowly, but has surged since. But the overall result is similar -- high-level production over a full season for a team in the hunt. Don’t worry too much about that .249 batting average, and instead take note of the power and the effective defense at two key positions. Henderson isn’t a shoo-in by any means but we like his chances. 3. Kodai Senga, RHP, Mets (previous rank: 5) It’s another climb in the rankings for Senga, who hasn’t allowed more than three runs in a start since mid-June. Since the last rookie rankings, he’s gone 3-1 with a 2.93 ERA in 30 innings over five starts. With probably seven starts remaining, he has an outside shot at 200 Ks on the year, which would be a nice feather in his cap when awards voting gets under way. 4. Matt McLain, SS, Reds (previous rank: 6) McLain is a great example of how these rankings can evolve over the course of the season. He debuted in May, so for the June and July rankings, his low at-bat totals kept him in the bottom half of the rankings. But he’s kept playing, kept producing, and each month he climbs a little higher. Another seven weeks like this and he’s likely to be a finalist for NL rookie honors. 5. Triston Casas, 1B, Red Sox (previously unranked) Somehow it seemed like it took Casas forever to arrive, didn’t it? But he’s here now, and he’s forced his way into the conversation. And he’s doing exactly what he was always expected to: hitting homers and controlling the strike zone. Casas has a ridiculous .323/.412/.697 line since the All-Star break, helping to keep the Red Sox in the Wild Card hunt. 6. Tanner Bibee, RHP, Guardians (previous rank: 10T) A month ago, Bibee rode a six-start hot streak into the very tail end of the rankings. Now it’s 11 starts in a row without allowing more than three runs, and Bibee is knocking on the top half of the top-10. It’s been a rough year for the Guardians but Bibee is a bright spot, sporting a 3.01 ERA for the season in 20 starts. He’s throwing strikes, keeping Cleveland in games, and building his case for a spot as a finalist for AL rookie honors. 7. Francisco Alvarez, C, Mets (previous rank: 8) Alvarez’s production has definitely slowed in the second half, but his overall numbers keep him on the list. However, the Mets have revealed that they plan to throttle his workload a little bit down the stretch, so it may get tougher for him to remain in the rankings. Still, 21 homers as a rookie catcher isn’t exactly nothing. And maybe the extra rest will help him regain his form. 8. Masataka Yoshida, OF, Red Sox (previous rank: 3) We’re not down on Yoshida, who just keeps hitting at a steady pace and still ranks fourth among AL rookies on the list. It’s more that Bibee and Casas have been torrid, edging him down a bit. Yoshida has been one of the most consistent rookie performers in either league, though, so it won't be at all surprising if he’s back in the top half of the rankings next month. 9. Eury Pérez, RHP, Marlins (previously unranked) The only thing holding Pérez back is volume. He’s been brilliant for the Marlins, he’s just not racking up the kind of innings it takes to win year-long awards. Pérez is still at 68 innings for the year. But he’s coming off a near-perfect outing against the mighty Dodgers, and a few more of those types of games might change the conversation around him a little bit. 10. Hunter Brown, RHP, Astros (previous rank: 7) The second half hasn’t been kind to Brown, who has a 6.37 ERA since the start of July. His season-long numbers remain respectable, so we still think he has an outside shot at year-end awards consideration, but he’ll need to get sorted out soon if he wants to stay on the list.
For France, I don't think anyone in the media trusts him to continue what he's doing. France is dominating LHBs with curves and change ups. Against RHBs, he's just throwing fastballs and cutters (to a lesser extent) down the middle of the plate, getting hit incredibly hard, but not giving up runs. I gotta think at some point teams will start scoring runs if he keeps grooving fastballs, but until they do, he's going to keep doing it as it keeps his pitch count down. Dusty loves him some starting pitchers that can keep their pitch count down. For Diaz, Dusty isn't playing him enough.
To follow up, his 4S fastball does kind of look like the RHP version of Blake Taylor's fastball which played well against same side hitters when Blake got it over the plate. Taylor got more weak contact, but then again he wasn't always throwing it down the middle of the plate or between the batters' boxes.
(August 18) Spoiler https://theathletic.com/4786273/2023/08/18/american-league-top-rookies-gunnar-henderson/ For most of this season, it looked like Rangers third baseman Josh Jung was going to run away with the American League Rookie of the Year Award, but then he suffered a fractured left thumb, leaving a direct path for Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles, Masataka Yoshida of the Red Sox or Tanner Bibee of the Guardians to sweep in and seize the prize. I’ve always said MLB should have a rookie position player award and a rookie pitcher award for both leagues because it’s not fair to compare a pitcher with a position player. There is an MVP Award and a Cy Young Award, and it should be the same for the rookies, but it’s not. For our purposes here, we’ll rank the top 10 rookie position players and the top 10 rookie pitchers in both leagues. First up is the AL. With about 75 percent of the season complete, I believe Henderson is in the lead for AL Rookie of the Year; he’s the front-runner among position players. Guardians right-hander Tanner Bibee would be my front-runner for AL rookie pitcher of the year. However, there are plenty of games left for other rookies to overtake them down the stretch. Here is my breakdown of the AL rookie field with about 40 games to go. Check back Monday for the NL rookie rankings. All statistics are from 2023 unless otherwise noted. WAR figures are according to Baseball Reference. Position players 1. Gunnar Henderson, 3B, Orioles Age: 22 WAR: 3.5 Slash line: .238/.322/.455 2B: 17 HR: 19 RBI: 56 SB: 6 2. Josh Jung, 3B, Rangers Age: 25 WAR: 2.4 Slash line: .274/.323/.489 2B: 24 HR: 22 RBI: 67 SB: 1 3. Masataka Yoshida, LF, Red Sox Age: 30 WAR: 1.6 Slash line: .300/.356/.466 2B: 26 HR: 12 RBI: 56 SB: 8 4. Anthony Volpe, SS, Yankees Age: 22 WAR: 2.9 Slash line: .213/.291/.388 2B: 14 HR: 16 RBI: 47 SB: 20 5. Triston Casas, 1B, Red Sox Age: 23 WAR: 1.2 Slash line: .256/.357/.488 2B: 16 HR: 20 RBI: 48 SB: 0 6. Yainer Diaz, C, Astros Age: 24 WAR: 1.9 Slash line: .273/.292/.520 2B: 15 HR: 16 RBI: 41 SB: 0 Yainer Diaz brings a solid power bat to the Astros’ catching room and is a perfect complement to Martín Maldonado. The Astros are so confident about Diaz’s future that they traded their other top catching prospect (Korey Lee) at the deadline. Diaz’s defensive development will determine whether he eventually becomes Houston’s everyday catcher. The opportunity to learn from Maldonado is invaluable for him. 7. Edouard Julien, 2B, Twins Age: 24 WAR: 1.7 Slash line: .293/.386/.486 2B: 11 HR: 10 RBI: 20 SB: 3 8. Maikel Garcia, 3B, Royals Age: 23 WAR: 1.7 Slash line: .285/.330/.381 2B: 16 HR: 4 RBI: 40 SB: 18 9. Zach Neto, SS, Angels Age: 22 WAR: 1.6 Slash line: .241/.315/.411 2B: 14 HR: 8 RBI: 30 SB: 5 10. Esteury Ruiz, CF, A’s Age: 24 WAR: -0.1 Slash line: .251/.304/.331 2B: 21 HR: 2 RBI: 37 SB: 48 Pitchers 1. Tanner Bibee, RHP, Guardians Age: 24 WAR: 2.8 W-L: 9-2 ERA: 2.90 IP: 108 2/3 SO: 106 BB: 35 2. J.P. France, RHP, Astros Age: 28 WAR: 2.4 W-L: 9-3 ERA: 2.74 IP: 102 SO: 73 BB: 30 J.P. France has pitched seven innings in each of his past four starts. He’s 6-0 with a 2.16 ERA in his past seven outings (six starts and one relief appearance). He’s tied with Bibee for the most wins by a rookie and tied with his teammate Hunter Brown for the most quality starts among rookies with 11. 3. Yennier Cano, RHP, Orioles Age: 29 WAR: 2.5 W-L: 1-2 ERA: 1.75 IP: 56 2/3 SO: 52 BB: 10 4. Grayson Rodriguez, RHP, Orioles Age: 23 WAR: -0.2 W-L: 3-3 ERA: 5.44 IP: 81 SO: 86 BB: 32 5. Gavin Williams, RHP, Guardians Age: 24 WAR: 1.7 W-L: 1-3 ERA: 2.80 IP: 54 2/3 SO: 59 BB: 22 6. Hunter Brown, RHP, Astros Age: 24 WAR: 1.5 W-L: 9-8 ERA: 4.16 IP: 125 1/3 SO: 138 BB: 39 Hunter Brown leads all rookies in innings pitched and is tied with Bibee and France in wins and with France in quality starts. Brown’s four-seam fastball sits at 96 to 97 mph, his hard 91 mph slider has late tilt and his curveball is knee-buckling at times. He throws an occasional split-finger and sweeper when they’re not expected. He has a solid pitcher’s frame at 6-for-2, 215 pounds. He’s pitched like a middle-of-the-rotation starter but has more upside once his command in the zone improves. 7. Logan Allen, LHP, Guardians Age: 24 WAR: 1.6 W-L: 6-5 ERA: 3.33 IP: 97 1/3 SO: 95 BB: 38 8. Tyler Holton, RHP, Tigers Age: 27 WAR: 2.4 W-L: 2-2 ERA: 1.74 IP: 62 SO: 58 BB: 16 9. Bryce Miller, RHP, Mariners Age: 24 WAR: 0.9 W-L: 7-4 ERA: 4.04 IP: 91 1/3 SO: 87 BB: 19 10. Bryan Woo, RHP, Mariners Age: 23 WAR: 0.0 W-L: 1-3 ERA: 4.75 IP: 55 SO: 60 BB: 17
