Every National League Rookie of the Year from the 21st century

Furcal is one of those “Oh yeah, I remember that guy” names, which speaks to his level of success. The shortstop didn’t have much power, and in fact, as a rookie, his .394 OBP was higher than his .382 slugging percentage. However, when you get on base that often and steal 40 bases, you are a worthy Rookie of the Year winner. In his career, Furcal would end up making three All-Star Games and racked up over 300 stolen bases.

The year 2001 was incredible for rookies. In the American League, Ichiro Suzuki was named Rookie of the Year. How do you top a future Hall of Famer? Um, with maybe the best player of his generation? Pujols was a 13th-round pick! As a 21-year-old rookie he was an all-star and fourth in MVP voting. In time, he would win three MVPs, two World Series wings, and two Gold Gloves. Plus, you know, he hit 703 home runs, fourth most of all time.

With Jennings, we’ve already run the gamut of the types of Rookie of the Year winners. Furcal had a solid career, so him winning the award doesn’t feel strange. Pujols is an icon, so every time his name appears in the record books, it makes sense. Jennings is one of those guys only remembered for winning Rookie of the Year, if he’s remembered at all. This was an old-school decision, as Jennings’ 16 wins probably carried the day. He had a 4.52 ERA with the Rockies (and a 4.68 FIP, not that voters were looking at that in 2002). Now, this was a bad year for rookies, but Austin Kearns and another pitcher, Mark Prior, both had higher bWAR.

Willis was a fun pitcher, especially in the early days when he was with the Marlins. He was an all-star as a rookie, probably owing in part to his personality and distinct pitching motion. Willis was good as a rookie, and in 2005 he had a great season. He led MLB with 22 wins, seven complete games, and five shutouts, finishing second in the Cy Young race. Of course, as we know how, that kind of workload is not always kind to the human arm. After 2007, Willis never pitched more than 75 innings in a season, and he retired before turning 30.

As a rookie for the Pirates in 2004, Bay was a slugger. He slashed .282/.358/.550 with 26 homers in 120 games. However, he only posted a 2.2 bWAR. You know what that means: Bad fielding! Even for a corner outfielder, Bay was not good. On the other hand, he was such a good hitter at his peak he made three All-Star Games and was a solid MLB player. Maybe his rookie year wasn’t great, but given the career he had he shook out as the best choice in hindsight. Plus, hitting is more fun than fielding anyway.

Speaking of guys that couldn’t field, Howard was such a stellar hitter at his peak it didn’t matter. Now, by the time he came around those who paid attention to sabermetrics would lampoon Howard as an MVP candidate, though he did win one MVP for the Phillies and finished in the top five three more times. Peaking early in his career, Howard hit at least 45 homers from 2006 through 2009, and led MLB in RBI three times as well.

In 2006, Ramirez and Justin Verlander were the respective Rookies of the Year. Verlander ended up with a Hall of Fame career, and at first it seemed like Hanley would end up there. As a rookie for the Marlins, he hit .292 with 17 homers and 51 stolen bases. He would become a batting title winner and a 30/30 guy. Unlike Verlander, though, Ramirez didn’t have the longevity. He was great for about five years, but basically done as a viable MLB player by 30.

Even as one of the worst fielders in MLB, Braun was a worthy Rookie of the Year for the Brewers. The dude slugged .634, which led the National League, and hit 34 homers in 113 games. Braun would proceed to make five All-Star Games in a row, winning the Silver Slugger every season, and finished in the top three in MVP as well, winning once. Now, there was some PED stuff that came into the mix, but Braun finished his MLB career having played 14 seasons with the Brew Crew and retired a .296 hitter with a .532 slugging percentage. Maybe not a Hall of Famer, but his number should be retired in Milwaukee.

In hindsight, maybe the fact Soto had cups of coffee in 2005, 2006, and 2007 before his official rookie campaign in 2008 should have been a sign his Rookie of the Year win would end up a fluke. Now, the Cubs catcher was legitimately good. He posted an .868 OPS with 23 homers and made the All-Star Game. That would be his only All-Star Game appearance, though. After that 2008 campaign, Soto slashed .232/.320/.414 and bounced around the majors as a platoon backstop option.

If you are a WAR person, Coghlan represents a nadir. His 1.1 bWAR is the lowest of any Rookie of the Year winner, AL or NL, since 2000. That includes 2020, when MLB played a 60-game season Coghlan, a Marlin, played 128 games, and he did hit .321. On the other hand, he only hit nine homers and stole eight bases while being caught five times. Coghlan did manage to carve out a nine-year career, but a truly unremarkable one. Among the 11 players who got at least one NL Rookie of the Year vote, Coghlan finished 10th in bWAR. The award could have gone to J.A. Happ! Or Andrew McCutchen!

Posey is a first-overall pick who delivered as promised. He won Rookie of the Year, but also served as a catcher for three World Series-winning teams for the Giants. Posey won a batting title, and won NL MVP the same year. He won a Gold Glove, five Silver Sluggers, and made seven All-Star Games. Catching can take a toll on the body, though, and Posey, once a likely future Hall of Famer, retired as more of a “Hall of Very Good” guy, though he might eke into the Hall potentially.

In the American League this millennium, relief pitchers have been bestowed the Rookie of the Year award on several occasions. The National League has done that less, and we will say this: Kimbrel is a worthy winner. After all, he led the National League in saves as a rookie with 46, and he had a 2.10 ERA as well. That was the first of four seasons in a row where Kimbrel led the NL in saves. Still pitching, the longtime closer has made nine All-Star Games. If he keeps it up, he could end up in the Hall, because the Baseball Hall of Fame is weird about closers.

The last decade of MLB baseball has been largely defined by the Rookies of the Year of 2012. In the AL, we had Mike Trout, an all-time great and the best player of his generation. Then, in the NL, there was Harper. No prospect has ever been as hyped as Harper. He debuted in his age-19 season with the Nationals, and managed to hit .270/.340/.477 with 22 homers and 18 stolen bases. Again, as a teenager! In 2015 he would win the MVP with perhaps the best offensive season since Barry Bonds, signed a massive contract with the Phillies, then went ahead and won an MVP there as well. Also? He’s in his early thirties. To be so hyped, and live up to it, is rare.

Well this one is a bummer. Fernandez debuted in his age-20 season and astounded on the mound, earning the Rookie of the Year and finishing third in the Cy Young vote. His next two years were hindered by Tommy John, but in 2016 he was healthy, posted a 2.86 ERA, and was an all-star once again. Alas, that September Fernandez and two of his friends died in a boating accident. By accounts, Fernandez was driving the boat, drunk and with cocaine in his system, and was speeding when he crashed. He was 24.

When healthy, deGrom is one of the best pitchers in baseball. He has two Cy Youngs, and has been a top-10 MVP finisher twice as well. The key, of course, is “when healthy.” Injuries have limited him to 215 starts across 10 seasons, and his 2023 campaign culminated in Tommy John surgery. Assuredly, deGrom will be remembered as a great pitcher by those who saw him, and he’s in the record books, but his true dominance may not be known to future generations.

Bryant came out of the gate red hot. He was Rookie of the Year in 2015, and in 2016 Bryant won NL MVP in leading the Chicago Cubs to their first World Series in, oh, over 100 years. Yeah, he was primed to be a Cubs legend. After a bad 2020 season, though, the Cubs would trade Bryant to the Giants in 2021, and then in 2022 he would sign with the Rockies, effectively resigning himself to baseball obscurity. He hasn’t been able to stay healthy with the Rockies, but as a four-time all-star as is, Bryant still has a chance to pick things up and become a star again.

Kyle Seager had a good MLB career! He played 11 years with the Mariners, winning a Gold Glove and making an All-Star Game. Unfortunately for him, younger brother Corey has already blown his career away. He didn’t just win Rookie of the Year with the Dodgers. Seager is a World Series MVP, a four-time all-star, and has been stellar since signing a huge deal with the Rangers. Plus, Corey doesn’t have to worry about a younger brother upstaging him!

Big free-agent deals have helped turn the Dodgers into a juggernaut, but nailing it with prospects has been key as well. Case in point, the year after Seager won Rookie of the Year, Bellinger followed. Now, Bellinger’s career has taken a different path from Seager’s. In 2019 he won NL MVP, but in the 2020 season he really struggled…and continued to struggle. After 2022, the Dodgers non-tendered him, but things turned out alright for Bellinger. He signed with the Cubs and rebounded with a borderline all-star campaign, a nice reminder he isn’t even in his thirties yet and has plenty of time left for his career.

Signed out of Venezuela, Acuna was considered the top prospect in baseball by many when he debuted. Like Harper before him, he’s delivered, and then some. After winning Rookie of the Year, Acuna has been an all-star in every season there has been an All-Star Game (i.e. not 2020). He’s gone 40/30. He’s gone 30/60. The 2023 season could end with him winning his first MVP.

Alonso is one of baseball's top sluggers, the Mets’ answer to Aaron Judge. This is actually an apt comparison. In 2017, Judge set the rookie record with 52 homers. Then, in 2019, Alonso went ahead and hit 53 of them, setting a new record. While he hasn’t hit 50 since, Alonso has never failed to hit at least 37 homers in a full season yet, and he’s still got a lot of runway in front of him, especially as a big first baseman who is not necessarily reliant on athleticism.

We’ll say this, the National League has been astute with handing out Rookie of the Year. Since Chris Coghlan in 2009, we’ve gotten a steady stream of future stars, MVPs, and possible Hall of Famers. Now, we have Williams, but this was the 2020 season so we are in a forgiving mood. Still, handing out Rookie of the Year to a middle reliever who pitched all of 27 innings is odd, even if he posted a 0.33 ERA. Now, Williams has since become a two-time all-star, and he’s now closing for the Brewers. Perhaps, in the future, we will view Williams as we do Kimbrel. For now, though, let’s not forget he was a middle reliever, and for what it’s worth Jake Cronenworth, Ke’Bryan Hayes, and Tony Gonsolin, among others, had higher bWARs.

India is tricky. On the one hand, the second baseman has never been an all-star, he’s now overshadowed by several teammates on the Reds, and his production since 2021 has not been as good. On the other hand, in 2021 India was the best rookie in the National League by a comfortable margin. He posted a .376 OBP with 21 homers and 21 stolen bases while playing passable defense at second base. His 4.1 bWAR was almost a full win above anybody else, and it’s not like runner-up Trevor Rogers has wowed in the interim. In the end, even if India ends up more Jason Bay than Corey Seager, that’s alright.

It was a heated competition down in Atlanta in 2022. The winner and runner up for NL Rookie of the Year came from the same squad. Pitcher Spencer Strider ended up in second to Harris in the end. The outfielder debuted late, limiting him to 114 games, but he hit .297 with 19 homers and 20 stolen bases. His 2023 campaign, flecked with injury, ended up a step down, but Harris seems primed to be patrolling an MLB outfield for a while.

There was no question about the 2023 NL Rookie of the Year vote. Carroll won it unanimously. The Diamondbacks outfielder batted .285 with 25 homers, 54 stolen bases, and a whopping 10 triples. In fact, Carroll finished fifth in the NL MVP.

Being a hyped pitching prospect is tough. Skenes didn't just live up to the hype. He exceeded it. As a rookie, the first-overall pick of the 2023 MLB Draft was a force on the mound. Skenes racked up strikeouts with gusto and posted an 1.93 ERA. The Pirates ace didn't just win Rookie of the Year. He started the All-Star Game and was third in Cy Young voting.