Corbin Carroll took home National League Rookie of the Year honors Monday night, while New York Mets pitcher Kodai Senga came in second. Carroll was the unanimous pick, while Senga received 22 second place votes and five third place votes.
Kodai Senga. Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
Senga was one of the best pitchers in all of baseball this past season, second in the NL in ERA behind Blake Snell with a 2.98 ERA, fourth in all of qualified starting pitchers in runs allowed with 60 and fourth in BAA with a .208. He also became the second Mets rookie since Dwight Gooden to strike out 200 or more batters.
The Japanese-born pitcher finished his season going 12-7 in 166 ⅓ innings pitched. He struck out 202 batters, allowed 126 hits, 77 walks, and had an ERA+ of 142. The ghost fork hurler was selected to his first All-Star game this past summer in Seattle. Fellow Mets rookie Francisco Álvarez did not receive a vote. The last Met who took home Rookie of the Year honors was Pete Alonso in 2019.
Carroll, on the other hand, was by no means a slouch. The speedy centerfielder from the National League championship Diamondbacks was a shoo-in for the award. He finished his award-winning year hitting .285/.362/.506/.868 with an OPS+ of 134. His ten triples led the league for the year.
James Outman of the Dodgers came in third in the voting for NL ROY. Gunnar Henderson of the Baltimore Orioles unanimously won the American League Rookie of the Year, beating out Tanner Bibee of the Cleveland Guardians and Triston Casas of the Boston Red Sox.
