Box-Toppers Rookie of the Year ballot
Here are Box-Toppers' ballot selections for the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) 2020 Rookie of the Year awards. The ballot required voters to pick the top three rookies in each league.Players are shown with their team and their Box-Toppers point (BTP) total for 2020.
| AL Rookie of the Year | |||
| Player | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Jose Marmolejos | Mariners | 2.7 |
| 2 | Jesus Luzardo | Athletics | 4.7 |
| 3 | Evan White | Mariners | 2.0 |
| NL Rookie of the Year | |||
| Player | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Josh Fuentes | Rockies | 2.0 |
| 2 | Alec Bohm | Phillies | 2.0 |
| 3 | Sixto Sanchez | Marlins | 3.0 |
Kyle Lewis of the Mariners and Devin Williams of the Brewers were voted 2020 Rookies of the Year by baseball writers.
Neither were among Box-Toppers’ top-ranked rookies in 2020. Plus, none of Box-Toppers’ top-ranked rookies even received votes from baseball writers for top rookie.
Normally, Box-Toppers choices for top rookie better coincide with the choices by the Baseball Writers Association of America, who announced their top rookie awards Monday. But this season, with the pandemic limiting the season to 60 games, the small sample size truly hampered this category. No leading candidate truly emerged and with so few games, no rookies accumulated significant Box-Toppers point totals.
AL Rookie of the Year
Lewis, baseball writers’ unanimous choice for American League Rookie of the Year, earned just 1.0 Box-Toppers point in 2020, when he was Player of the Game Aug. 21. The centerfielder’s 1.0 Box-Toppers point puts him in a tie for 440th place in season player rankings. He’s tied with 57 other players who also earned their first Box-Toppers point in 2020.
Box-Toppers’ top-ranked AL rookie was first baseman/outfielder Jose Marmolejos of the Mariners with 2.7 Box-Toppers points, in a four-way tie for 126th in season player rankings.
Athletics pitcher Jesus Luzardo actually had the most Box-Toppers points among AL rookies in 2020 (4.7). However, in cases of awards where batters are directly compared to pitchers, Box-Toppers ranks batters as if their season Box-Toppers point total were doubled. So though Marmolejos had fewer points than Luzardo, Box-Toppers arbitrarily doubles batters point totals in figuring these rankings, which would give Marmolejos 5.4 points, beating Luzardo's 4.7.
Luzardo was Box-Toppers’ second choice for AL rookie of the year and the only one of our three AL finalists to receive votes from baseball writers. He got one third-place vote.
(Below: See American League Rookie of the Year voting chart to see the Box-Toppers point totals and season player rankings of rookies who received votes from baseball writers.)
NL Rookie of the Year
Brewers middle reliever Devin Williams was voted National League Rookie of the Year by baseball writers, receiving 14 of 30 first-place votes.
Williams also earned just 1.0 Box-Toppers point in 2020, earning his only career Player of the Game honor on Aug. 31. Like Lewis, that 1.0 Box-Toppers point puts him in a 58-way tie for 440th place in season player rankings.
Box-Toppers’ top NL rookie was first baseman Josh Fuentes of the Rockies with 2.0 Box-Toppers points, in a 17-way tie for 219th place in season player rankings.
Rookie Marlins pitcher Sixto Sanchez actually had more Box-Toppers points in 2020 (3.0), but again, in cases of awards where batters are directly compared to pitchers, Box-Toppers ranks batters as if their season Box-Toppers point total were doubled. That gave Fuentes the advantage.
Dodgers pitcher Tony Gonsolin had the most Box-Toppers points among NL rookies who received votes from baseball writers (4.7, in 36th place overall). And while Gonsolin still did have official rookie status in 2020, he earned 3.0 Box-Toppers points in 2019 and so Box-Toppers did not consider him to be a rookie in 2020.
(Below: See National League Rookie of the Year voting chart to see the Box-Toppers point totals and season player rankings of rookies who received votes from baseball writers.)
IBWAA rookie voting
Box-Toppers votes in the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) Rookie of the Year voting, which picked Kyle Lewis of the Mariners and Jake Cronenworth of the Padres as top rookies.
Here are the results:
AL Rookie of the Year
1st—Kyle Lewis, Mariners – 557 points
2nd—Luis Robert, White Sox – 384
3rd—Cristian Javier, Astros – 33
NL Rookie of the Year
1st—Jake Cronenworth, Padres – 468 points
2nd—Devin Williams, Brewers – 212
3rd—Alec Bohm, Phillies – 162
IBWAA’s results in the AL mirrored those by the BBWAA. The IBWAA picked Cronenworth in the NL over Williams. Cronenworth was one of three rookies who received votes on the BBWAA ballot who have yet to earn their first career Player of the Game honor and so have 0.0 Box-Toppers points and no player ranking. The others are Indians pitcher James Karinchak and Pirates third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes.
The IBWAA was established in 2009 to serve the baseball writing community, representing more than 600 baseball content creators. Voting for full season awards takes place in September of each year, with selections being announced in November. The IBWAA also holds a Hall of Fame election in December of each year, with results being announced the following January.
About Box-Toppers—Box-Toppers tracks who most helps their team win the most games. Using standard box score statistics, Box-Toppers uses a simple formula to determine a Player of the Game for each Major League Baseball game played. That player is the person who contributed most to his team’s win. In regular season games, players earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being named Player of the Game and can earn bonus points for being Player of the Day or top player or batter in their league for the day.
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Related
Box-Toppers picks for 2020 postseason awards
A look at 2020 baseball awards finalists and how they fared in Box-Toppers rankings
A Box-Toppers look at past Rookie of the Year voting:
2019: Padres’ Chris Paddack, Box-Toppers’ dominant rookie for 2019, receives no Rookie of the Year votes; Alonso, Alvarez receive rookie honors.
2018: Ronald Acuna Jr., Shohei Ohtani, who led rookies in Box-Toppers points, win awards.
2017: Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, who led league rookies in Box-Toppers points, win awards.
2016: Box-Toppers disagrees with writers’ unanimous choice for Corey Seager as NL Rookie of the Year.
American League Rookie of the Year voting
Kyle Lewis of the Mariners was voted AL Rookie of the Year. However, Box-Toppers’ choice for top AL rookie is Jose Marmolejos of the Mariners (2.7 Box-Toppers points), who received no votes. Here is the order of finish for the AL rookie award. Also shown are the votes each player received from baseball writers for first, second and third place, plus their overall voting point totals. Also shown are each player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total for 2020 and their overall rank among all players.| AL rookies | Team | Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Points | BTP | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kyle Lewis | Mariners | cf | 30 | 150 | 1.0 | T-440 | ||
| Luis Robert | White Sox | cf | 27 | 2 | 83 | 1.0 | T-440 | |
| Cristian Javier | Astros | pi sp | 11 | 11 | 2.0 | T-219 | ||
| Sean Murphy | Athletics | ca | 1 | 4 | 7 | 1.5 | 276 | |
| Willi Castro | Tigers | ss | 1 | 4 | 7 | 1.0 | T-440 | |
| James Karinchak | Indians | pi mr | 5 | 5 | 0.0 | - | ||
| Jared Walsh | Angels | 1b | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1.0 | T-440 | |
| Ryan Mountcastle | Orioles | lf | 1 | 1 | 1.5 | T-285 | ||
| Brady Singer | Royals | pi sp | 1 | 1 | 4.0 | T-60 | ||
| Jesus Luzardo | Athletics | pi sp | 1 | 1 | 4.7 | 37 |
Karinchak, with 0.0 Box-Toppers points, has yet to earn his first career regular season Player of the Game honor and so has no ranking among players.
National League Rookie of the Year voting
Devin Williams of the Brewers was voted NL Rookie of the Year. However, Box-Toppers’ choice for top NL rookie is Josh Fuentes of the Rockies, who had 2.0 Box-Toppers points, but received no NL Rookie of the Year votes. Here is the order of finish for the NL rookie award. Also shown are the votes each player received from baseball writers for first, second and third place, plus their overall voting point totals. Also shown are each player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total for 2020 and their overall rank among all players.| NL rookies | Team | Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Points | BTP | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Devin Williams | Brewers | pi mr | 14 | 6 | 7 | 95 | 1.0 | T-440 |
| Alec Bohm | Phillies | 3b | 9 | 8 | 5 | 74 | 2.0 | T-219 |
| Jake Cronenworth | Padres | 2b | 6 | 12 | 8 | 74 | 0.0 | - |
| Tony Gonsolin | Dodgers | pi sp | 1 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 4.7 | 36 |
| Dustin May | Dodgers | pi sp | 2 | 2 | 8 | 2.0 | T-201 | |
| Ke'Bryan Hayes | Pirates | 3b | 1 | 2 | 5 | 0.0 | - | |
| Andres Gimenez | Mets | 2b | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | T-440 | ||
| Sixto Sanchez | Marlins | pi sp | 1 | 1 | 3.0 | T-108 | ||
| Ian Anderson | Braves | pi sp | 1 | 1 | 2.7 | T-126 |
Cronenworth and Hayes, both with 0.0 Box-Toppers points, have yet to earn their first career regular season Player of the Game honor and so have no ranking among players.