Randy Arozarena of the Rays and Jonathan India of the Reds were voted 2021 Rookies of the Year by baseball writers.
Box-Toppers Rookie of the Year ballot
Here are Box-Toppers' ballot selections for the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) 2021 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 2021.
| AL Rookie of the Year | |||
| Player | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Bobby Dalbec | Red Sox | 5.4 |
| 2 | Alek Manoah | Blue Jays | 10.7 |
| 3 | Triston McKenzie | Indians | 10.4 |
| NL Rookie of the Year | |||
| Player | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Trevor Rogers | Marlins | 9.0 |
| 2 | Jonathan India | Reds | 3.7 |
| 3 | Bryan De La Cruz | Marlins | 3.5 |
Neither were among Box-Toppers’ top-ranked rookies in 2021. Arozarena was Box-Toppers’ eighth-ranked American League rookie and India was Box-Toppers’ second-ranked National League rookie. (See charts below American League Rookie of the Year voting and National League Rookie of the Year voting.)
Box-Toppers’ top-ranked rookies were Bobby Dalbec of the Red Sox in the AL and Marlins pitcher Trevor Rogers in the NL. (See chart elsewhere on this page Box-Toppers Rookie of the Year ballot.)
The top rookie awards were announced Monday, chosen by a vote of the Baseball Writers Association of America.
AL Rookie of the Year
Arozarena, baseball writers’ choice for AL Rookie of the Year, earned 4.0 Box-Toppers points in 2021, 238th among all players, 51st among AL batters and 19th among AL outfielders.
In Box-Toppers ranking of the top 10 AL rookies in 2021, Arozarena ranked eighth.
Box-Toppers’ top-ranked AL rookie was first baseman Bobby Dalbec of the Red Sox with 5.4 Box-Toppers points, 171st among all players, 29th among AL batters and sixth among AL first basemen. But Dalbec received no votes from baseball writers for AL Rookie of the Year.
While Dalbec didn’t have the most Box-Toppers points among AL rookies, he had more than half the point total as the top AL rookie pitcher, Alek Manoah of the Blue Jays (10.7). Box-Toppers gives batters a generous, if somewhat arbitrary, benefit of the doubt in these rankings. In award situations where batters are directly compared to pitchers, Box-Toppers ranks batters as if their season Box-Toppers point total were doubled. In this case, that would give Dalbec 10.8 points vs. Manoah’s 10.7.
Manoah had the most Box-Toppers points among AL rookies, 41st among all players and 15th among AL pitchers. He finished eighth in AL Rookie of the Year voting, receiving two third-place votes.
Astros pitcher Luis Garcia had the most Box-Toppers points (10.0) among players who received first-place votes for AL Rookie of the Year. Garcia ranked 49th in Box-Toppers season player rankings, 18th among AL pitchers. He received two first-place votes for AL Rookie of the Year and finished second in voting. He was Box-Toppers’ fifth-ranked AL rookie in 2021.
Infielder Wander Franco of the Rays finished third in AL Rookie of the Year voting, but has yet to make his Box-Toppers debut by earning his first career Player of the Game honor and so has no points and no ranking. He made his Major League debut June 22 and played in 70 games.
This was Arozarena’s third season of play but he still qualified as a rookie in 2021. He played 19 games in 2019 for the Cardinals and 23 games for the Rays in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. He earned 1.5 Box-Toppers points in the 2020 regular season, but his 2021 rookie candidacy may have been boosted by his 20-game 2020 postseason performance, in which he hit 10 home runs, drove in 14 runs, batted .377 and was Box-Toppers Player of the Game Oct. 24 in a wild World Series Game 4 win, in which he scored the memorable walk-off run.
NL Rookie of the Year
Reds second baseman Jonathan India was voted National League Rookie of the Year by baseball writers, receiving 29 of 30 first-place votes.
India earned 3.7 Box-Toppers points in 2021 and was Box-Toppers’ second-ranked NL rookie for the season, behind Marlins pitcher Trevor Rogers (9.0 Box-Toppers points), who finished second in NL rookie voting with one first-place vote.
India’s 3.7 Box-Toppers points ranks 265th among all players, 48th among NL batters, fifth among NL second basemen and first among NL rookie batters.
Rogers had more than twice as many Box-Toppers points as India. Rogers’ 9.0 points ranks 64th among all players and 33rd among NL pitchers.
IBWAA rookie voting
Box-Toppers votes in the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) Rookie of the Year voting, which also picked Arozarena and India as top rookies.
Here are the results:
AL Rookie of the Year
1st—Randy Arozarena, Rays—139 points
2nd—Adolis Garcia, Rangers—76 points
3rd—Wander Franco, Rays—56 points
NL Rookie of the Year
1st—India, Reds—191 points
2nd—Rogers, Marlins—112 points
3rd—Dylan Carlson, Cardinals—31 points
The IBWAA was established in 2009 to serve the baseball writing community, representing more than 700 baseball content creators. Voting for full season awards takes place at the close of the regular season each year, with selections being announced in November. The IBWAA also holds Hall of Fame, preseason prediction, and All-Star Game voting.
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 postseason awards include Max Scherzer, Gerrit Cole, Jose Ramirez
A look at 2021 awards finalists and how they fared in Box-Toppers rankings
A Box-Toppers look at past Rookie of the Year voting:
2020: Short season limited opportunity to shine for newcomers
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
Randy Arozarena of the Rays was voted AL Rookie of the Year. However, Box-Toppers’ choice for top AL rookie is Bobby Dalbec of the Red Sox (5.4 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 2021 and their overall rank among all players.| AL rookies | Team | Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Points | BTP | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Randy Arozarena | Rays | lf dh | 22 | 4 | 2 | 124 | 4.0 | 238 |
| 2 | Luis Garcia | Astros | pi sp | 2 | 15 | 8 | 63 | 10.0 | 49 |
| 3 | Wander Franco | Rays | ss 3b | 2 | 5 | 5 | 30 | 0.0 | — |
| 4 | Adolis Garcia | Rangers | cf dh | 3 | 1 | 9 | 27 | 5.0 | 199 |
| 5 | Emmanuel Clase | Indians | pi cp | 1 | 2 | 11 | 3.0 | 333 | |
| 6 | Ryan Mountcastle | Orioles | 1b | 2 | 4 | 10 | 3.0 | 311 | |
| 7 | Shane McClanahan | Rays | pi sp | 1 | 3 | 4.7 | 209 | ||
| 8 | Alek Manoah | Blue Jays | pi sp | 2 | 2 | 10.7 | 41 |
Franco, 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
Jonathan India of the Reds was voted NL Rookie of the Year. However, Box-Toppers’ choice for top NL rookie is Trevor Rogers of the Marlins, who had 9.0 Box-Toppers points and finished second in NL Rookie of the Year voting. 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 2021 and their overall rank among all players.| NL rookies | Team | Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Points | BTP | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jonathan India | Reds | 2b | 29 | 1 | 148 | 3.7 | 265 | |
| 2 | Trevor Rogers | Marlins | pi sp | 1 | 26 | 3 | 86 | 9.0 | 64 |
| 3 | Dylan Carlson | Cardinals | rf cf | 3 | 13 | 22 | 3.0 | 310 | |
| 4 | Patrick Wisdom | Cubs | 3b | 5 | 5 | 3.0 | 339 | ||
| 5 | Ian Anderson | Braves | pi sp | 3 | 3 | 7.0 | 99 | ||
| 6 | Tyler Stephenson | Reds | ca | 2 | 2 | 2.0 | 510 | ||
| 6 | Frank Schwindel | Cubs | 1b | 2 | 2 | 2.0 | 507 | ||
| 8 | David Bednar | Pirates | pi cp | 1 | 1 | 2.0 | 485 | ||
| 8 | Vladimir Gutierrez | Reds | pi sp | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 746 |