Arguably the longest two days/nights of the year for sports bettors are the two right after MLB’s All-Star Game, which was won by the American League 5-3 on Tuesday night behind game MVP Jarren Duran of the Boston Red Sox.
Regular-season action doesn’t restart until Friday, so today we look at the current odds to win Rookie of the Year in each league provided by MyBookie Sportsbook.
| Expert Prediction: Skenes wins NL award and Gil takes AL honors |
NL Rookie of the Year
Paul Skenes -1299
This section won’t be very long as Pittsburgh right-hander Skenes, who didn’t even make his big-league debut until May 11 but has had arguably the greatest start to a career for a rookie pitcher ever at 6-0 with a 1.90 ERA, .092 WHIP and 89 strikeouts in 11 starts.
He has had two outings of at least six innings and no hits allowed, including his last start before the break in Milwaukee, when he went seven innings and whiffed 11.
At 99 pitches, the Pirates weren’t about to let Skenes try and finish the no-no, and it would end in the eighth inning.
Skenes is the -1299 favorite for NL Rookie of the Year, and the only way he likely doesn’t win at this point is if the 2023 No. 1 overall pick gets hurt fairly soon. He might win the NL Cy Young.
He has permitted two runs or fewer in nine of his 11 major league starts.
Skenes on the All Star Game
Paul became a rare rookie to start the All-Star Game on Tuesday night and retired the side in the bottom of the first inning in Arlington, Texas.
Skenes showed impressive speed reaching 100.1 mph and struck out four skilled AL batters including Kwan, Henderson, Soto, and Judge. Soto was the only one to reach base with a walk.
Jackson Merrill +440
Padres outfielder Merrill is +500 for NL Rookie of the Year and no other player is below +2000. Merrill would easily be the favorite most years as he’s hitting after batting .278 with 12 homers, 46 RBIs and 10 stolen bases. He also was part of the NL All-Star team.
^AL Rookie of the Year
This race could go down to the wire with Texas outfielder Wyatt Langford, Yankees pitcher Luis Gil, Orioles outfielder Colton Cowser and Red Sox outfielder Ceddanne Rafaela.
Wyatt Langford +122
Langford missed some time on the injured list earlier this season but also had the season’s first cycle in late June against Baltimore.
The 22-year-old got the most difficult part of the cycle out of the way early, hitting a triple to lead off the fourth inning.
He followed that up with a double in the fifth, a single in the sixth and in the eighth, he completed the cycle with a home run off the Orioles’ Matt Krook.
Langford became the youngest player in franchise history (22 years, 228 days) to hit for the cycle and second rookie to do it.
Overall, Langford is batting .254 with five homers, 40 RBIs and eight steals.
Luis Gil +189
Gil was the favorite for a while, then hit a rough patch, like most Yankees starting pitchers have in recent weeks.
But Gil is back in form it appears, as in his final start before the break, he earned the win against the Orioles last Saturday, allowing one run on five hits and one walk with seven strikeouts over six innings.
Gil allowed a run in the fourth but was otherwise fantastic, finishing with two perfect innings and departing with a 6-1 lead.
Luis, who followed a terrific 14-start stretch to start the season with an abysmal three-start span that likely cost him a spot in this week’s Midsummer Classic in Texas, delivered a second straight solid performance to close out the first half.
On the season, he is 10-5 with a 3.17 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 118:49 K:BB across 102.1 innings.
Colton Cowser +800
Baltimore’s Cowser was the American League Rookie of the Month for March/April as he ended that period batting .303/.372/.632/.1.004 with six homers and 18 RBIs.
He ended April ninth in the AL in FanGraphs.com Wins Above Replacement among league position players. But struggles would follow that torrid hitting stretch.
While his OPS for this year of .740 puts him 13 percent above AL average, his OPS was .580 in May, .679 in June and is .490 so far in July.
Overall, Cowser is batting .219 with 12 homers and 34 RBIs.
Ceddanne Rafaela +890
The Red Sox think so much of Rafaela that they already have signed him to an eight-year extension worth $50 million, with a club option way out in 2032.
When Spring Training started, Red Sox manager Alex Cora challenged Rafaela to win the starting job in center field rather than go back to Triple-A for more seasoning.
Rafaela, who hails from Curaçao, was successful in that mission. He’s still a work at the plate in batting .246 with 11 homers and 52 RBIs but already is a stellar defender – both at center field and shortstop.
“Offensively, he started slow average-wise, but he’s been consistent in every aspect,” Cora said. “He’s getting better.”
^|
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2022 Rookie Of The Year
The Kansas City Royals have had four winners of the American League Rookie of the Year Award, last shortstop Angel Berroa in 2003 and he ended up being a bust overall. With the 2022 MLB season opening on Thursday, the betting favorite to win AL Rookie of the Year is Royals third baseman Bobby Witt Jr. at +350 on the MLB odds.
Witt is ranked as the No. 1 prospect in the sport and many times teams will keep top rookies in the minors for a few weeks for service time reasons, but Witt has broken camp with the big club and should be the team’s every-day third baseman. Kansas City opens at home Thursday vs. Cleveland.
The son of 16-year MLB pitcher Bobby Witt was the 2019 Gatorade National High School Player of the Year was selected second overall by the Royals and signed for a franchise-record $7,789,900. Last year he slashed .290/.361/.575 with 33 homers and 29 steals at Double-A and Triple-A. He fell one theft shy of being the minors’ ninth 30-30 player since 2000. He was named Baseball America’s Minor League Player of the Year.
Even Royals Hall of Famer George Brett said recently of Witt on MLB Network: “He’s a talent I’ve never seen before at this age.”
The spring, the Royals decided Adalberto Mondesi was their best option at shortstop — while acknowledging they still view Witt as their future shortstop — and Nicky Lopez their best second baseman. Third base was Witt’s job to win. He grabbed it and never let go. Witt posted a 1.222 OPS in 12 Cactus League games with three towering home runs. He beat out infield hits and stole two bases.
All of this isn’t to say Witt won’t struggle at the big-league level, at least early on. If there’s one concern, it lies in his 22.5 percent strikeout rate at Triple-A Omaha.
Detroit Tigers slugger Spencer Torkelson is next on the AL odds at +540 and he also will open with the big club – the Tigers start their season Friday vs. the White Sox. Torkelson, who probably will play first base most days, is ranked as the No. 4 overall prospect. In 2020, the Tigers made him the first corner infielder to go No. 1 overall since Adrian Gonzalez in 2000. Torkelson signed for $8,416,300, which still stands as a Draft record. He backed up that investment with a stellar first season in 2020, climbing from High-A to Triple-A while hitting .267/.383/.552 with 30 homers over 121 games.
By cracking the Tigers’ Opening Day roster, Torkelson also will become the first Tigers position player to make his Major League debut in the Opening Day lineup since Austin Jackson and Scott Sizemore did it in 2010. Torkelson can mash but is a patient hitter with a keen awareness of his strike zone, willing and able to take walks but also capable of fouling off pitches to extend at-bats until he recognizes a mistake. He can crush fastballs, but his pitch recognition is advanced.
The third favorite is Mariners outfielder Julio Rodriguez, who is +580 for AL Rookie of the Year and he also will star the season in the majors. Rodriguez is ranked the No. 3 prospect in MLB. Last season in the minors, he hit .347/.441/.560 between High-A and Double-A, while also going to the Futures Game and helping the Dominican Republic earn a bronze medal in the Olympics.
Over 12 Cactus League games this spring, Rodríguez was 13-for-31 overall for a .419/.471/.839 slash line and team-leading 1.310 OPS. He tacked on three stolen bases in four attempts, also flashing his wheels when he circled the bases on an inside-the-park home run, and drew three walks against nine strikeouts.
The 21-year-old is expected to be the regular center fielder and be a run-producing fixture in a lineup that was the club’s most notable weakness a year ago. Rodriguez figures to join an outfield rotation that also includes offseason acquisition Jesse Winker, veteran right fielder Mitch Haniger and another touted, hopeful building block in Jarred Kelenic.
Rodriguez likely will hit fifth or sixth in the batting order and see action at all three outfield spots. Despite his upside, Rodríguez has all of 46 games under his belt above High-A and just 158 Minors games total in the U.S. since signing as an international free agent in 2017.
Expert Pick For ROY
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