Orioles infielder Gunnar Henderson has gained Rookie of the 12 months for the American League, per an announcement from the Baseball Writers Affiliation of America. Tanner Bibee of the Guardians positioned second whereas Triston Casas of the Pink Sox positioned third.
Henderson received to make his main league debut final yr as a September call-up, simply a few months after his twenty first birthday. Regardless of his younger age, he held himself extremely properly. His 25.8% strikeout charge was a bit above common, however he additionally drew walks at a 12.1% clip. His .259/.348/.440 batting line final yr resulted in a 128 wRC+, indicating he was 28% above league common in that point. That decision-up gave him an opportunity to get a style of the majors whereas sustaining rookie standing, since he didn’t get to 130 at-bat or 45 days on the roster.
The O’s got here into 2023 seeking to firmly stamp out their rebuild and make the postseason for the primary time since 2016. Henderson’s first full season helped them do exactly that, as he hit 28 dwelling runs and stole 10 bases. His stroll charge dipped to 9%, although that was nonetheless above league common. His .259/.348/.440 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 123. He break up his time between shortstop and third base, getting robust grades at each positions. FanGraphs thought of him to be value 4.6 wins above substitute whereas Baseball Reference had him at 6.2. The Orioles, in the meantime, gained 101 video games and took the highest spot within the American League East.
The award is unquestionably gratifying for Henderson and the O’s in and of itself, however there are different implications of this information. The brand new collective bargaining settlement accommodates measures designed to fight service time manipulation by means of the prospect promotion incentive, or PPI. Prime-two Rookie of the 12 months finishers who have been Prime 100 prospects on at the least two preseason lists at Baseball America, ESPN and MLB Pipeline are mechanically credited with a full service yr. That gained’t apply to Henderson, who was up all yr and earned a full service yr regardless, although he was the #1 prospect on all three of these lists.
However gamers with PPI standing may also earn additional draft picks for his or her golf equipment if they’ve lower than 60 days of service time to start out the season and earn a full service yr the standard approach, as Henderson did, whereas additionally showing on these preseason prospect lists. Gamers in that camp who end within the prime two in Rookie of the 12 months voting or prime three in Cy Younger or Most Helpful Participant voting throughout their pre-arbitration seasons earn a bonus decide after the primary spherical for his or her membership. Which means the O’s, who’re already loaded with younger expertise, will get a priceless additional decide in subsequent yr’s draft.
Bibee and Casas additionally had robust seasons, however not sufficient to catch Henderson. The previous made 25 begins for the Guards with a 2.98 earned run common, 24.1% strikeout charge and seven.7% stroll charge. He wasn’t promoted till late April however will earn a full service yr by getting second place on this voting. However since he didn’t get that service yr the standard approach, the Guards gained’t get a bonus draft decide. Casas hit 24 dwelling runs and walked in 13.9% of his plate appearances, resulting in a .263/.367/.490 batting line and 129 wRC+. He was within the majors all yr, so the voting gained’t impression him from a service time perspective, however he falls simply shy of getting the Pink Sox a bonus decide.
Henderson was a unanimous choice, per the total vote tally from the BBWAA, getting all 30 first-place votes. Bibee received 20 of the second-place votes whereas Casas received six. Different gamers receiving votes have been Josh Jung of the Rangers, Yainer Diaz of the Astros, Masataka Yoshida of the Pink Sox, Edouard Julien of the Twins and Anthony Volpe of the Yankees.
Picture courtesy of USA At the moment Sports activities.
