Julio Rodriguez of the Mariners, Box-Toppers’ choice for 2022 American League Rookie of the Year, was also voted winner of the honor by baseball writers Monday.
Box-Toppers Rookie of the Year ballot
Here are Box-Toppers' ballot selections for the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) 2022 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 2022.
| AL Rookie of the Year | |||
| Player | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Julio Rodriguez | Mariners | 7.5 |
| 2 | Joe Ryan | Twins | 14.7 |
| 3 | George Kirby | Mariners | 11.4 |
| NL Rookie of the Year | |||
| Player | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Spencer Strider | Braves | 13.4 |
| 2 | Nolan Gorman | Cardinals | 5.0 |
| 3 | Brendan Donovan | Cardinals | 4.0 |
But Michael Harris II of the Braves, who won the National League Rookie of the Year honor, was not among Box-Toppers’ top three choices for top NL rookie. Braves pitcher Spencer Strider, Box-Toppers’ choice for top NL rookie, finished second in voting.
The top rookie awards were announced Monday, chosen by a vote of the Baseball Writers Association of America.
AL Rookie of the Year
Rodriguez received 29 of the 30 first-place votes for Rookie of the Year (see chart elsewhere on this page). He earned 7.5 Box-Toppers points in 2022 (90th among all players and eighth among AL batters), which was slightly more than half the point total of the top AL rookie pitcher, Joe Ryan of the Twins (14.7).
In cases in which batters and pitchers are eligible for the same award, we give batters a generous, if arbitrary, benefit of the doubt and double their Box-Toppers point total when comparing them to pitchers. This gives Rodriguez an adjusted total of 15.0 points which beats Ryan’s 14.7.
Though Ryan had the most Box-Toppers points among all rookies, he did not receive any votes for Rookie of the Year. Ryan still had rookie status in 2022, though he pitched five games in 2021 and earned 2.7 Box-Toppers points.
Ryan’s 14.7 Box-Toppers points was 21st among all players and 10th among AL pitchers.
Third in Box-Toppers’ list for AL top rookie was Mariners pitcher George Kirby, who earned 11.4 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 41st among all players and 19th among AL pitchers. Though Kirby had more points than Rodriguez (11.4 vs. 7.5), Rodriguez still had more than half of Kirby’s total. Kirby received one third-place vote from baseball writers, finishing sixth among all AL rookie vote-getters.
The four other AL rookies who received votes were not among Box-Toppers’ three finalists for the award. And one of them, Jeremy Pena of Astros, has yet to make his Box-Toppers debut by earning his first regular season Player of the Game honor and so has 0.0 career Box-Toppers points and no Box-Toppers ranking. (But Pena did earn Player of the Game honors Oct. 23 in the AL Championship Series Game 4 win over the Yankees. However, no Box-Toppers points are awarded in postseason games.) Pena finished fifth among AL rookie vote-getters with two third-place votes.
Adley Rutschman of the Orioles finished second in AL rookie voting and received one first-place vote. Rutschman earned 4.0 Box-Toppers points, 259th among all players. Two other players who received votes were Steven Kwan of the Guardians (5.0 Box-Toppers points, 191st overall) and Bobby Witt Jr. of the Royals (2.0 Box-Toppers points, 508th overall).
NL Rookie of the Year
Braves center fielder Michael Harris II was voted National League Rookie of the Year by baseball writers, receiving 22 of 30 first-place votes (see chart elsewhere on this page).
Harris earned 3.5 Box-Toppers points in 2022 and was among Box-Toppers’ top 10-ranked rookies, but was not one of the top three Box-Toppers placed on its top rookie ballot.
Braves pitcher Spencer Strider, who received eight of the 30 first-place votes from baseball writers, was Box-Toppers’ choice for top NL rookie. He earned 13.4 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 27th among all players and 13th among NL pitchers.
Strider had more than twice as many Box-Toppers points as the top NL rookie batter, Nolan Gorman of the Cardinals (5.0), who we voted second for NL top rookie. Gorman received no votes for NL Rookie of the Year from baseball writers.
Finishing third in NL rookie voting was Cardinals infielder Brendan Donovan, who Box-Toppers also placed in third on its NL rookie ballot. Donovan had 4.0 Box-Toppers points in 2022.
Also receiving votes were Jake McCarthy of the Diamondbacks, Reds pitcher Alexis Diaz, Reds pitcher Nick Lodolo and Oneil Cruz of the Pirates.
IBWAA rookie voting
Box-Toppers votes in the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) Rookie of the Year voting, which also picked Rodriguez and Harris as top rookies.
Here are the results:
AL Rookie of the Year
1st—Julio Rodriguez, Mariners—337 points
2nd—Adley Rutschman, Orioles—181 points
3rd—Steven Kwan, Guardians—45 points
NL Rookie of the Year
1st—Michael Harris II, Braves—273 points
2nd—Spencer Strider, Braves—261 points
3rd—Brendan Donovan, Cardinals—38 points
The IBWAA was established in 2009 to serve the baseball writing community, representing more than 750 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.
Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.
Related
A Box-Toppers look at past Rookie of the Year voting:
2021: Box-Toppers’ top-ranked rookies Dalbec, Rogers, lose Rookie of the Year honors to Arozarena, India
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
Julio Rodriguez of the Mariners, voted AL Rookie of the Year, was also Box-Toppers choice for the award. He earned 7.5 Box-Toppers points in 2022, most among AL rookie batters. 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 2022 and their overall rank among all players.| AL rookies | Team | Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Points | BTP | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Julio Rodriguez | Mariners | cf | 29 | 1 | 148 | 7.5 | 90 | |
| 2 | Adley Rutschman | Orioles | ca ph | 1 | 18 | 9 | 68 | 4.0 | 259 |
| 3 | Steven Kwan | Guardians | lf | 10 | 14 | 44 | 5.0 | 191 | |
| 4 | Bobby Witt Jr., | Royals | 3b ss | 1 | 4 | 7 | 2.0 | 508 | |
| 5 | Jeremy Peña | Astros | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | —* | |||
| 6 | George Kirby | Mariners | pi sp | 1 | 1 | 11.4 | 41 |
• Pena, 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
Michael Harris II of the Braves was voted NL Rookie of the Year. However, Box-Toppers’ choice for top NL rookie is Spencer Strider of the Braves, who had 13.4 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 2022 and their overall rank among all players.| NL rookies | Team | Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Points | BTP | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Harris II | Braves | cf | 22 | 8 | 134 | 3.5 | 288 | |
| 2 | Spencer Strider | Braves | pi sp | 8 | 21 | 103 | 13.4 | 27 | |
| 3 | Brendan Donovan | Cardinals | ss 3b | 22 | 22 | 4.0 | 254 | ||
| 4 | Jake McCarthy | Diamondbacks | rf ph | 4 | 4 | 2.0 | 492 | ||
| 5 | Alexis Diaz | Reds | pi cp | 1 | 3 | 3.0 | 348 | ||
| 6 | Nick Lodolo | Reds | pi sp | 2 | 2 | 7.0 | 105 | ||
| 6 | Oneil Cruz | Pirates | ss | 2 | 2 | 3.5 | 286 |