Sal Stewart of the Reds, Box-Toppers’ choice for 2026 National League Rookie of the Year, was also voted winner of the honor by baseball writers Monday.
Box-Toppers Rookie of the Year ballot
Here is a look at Box-Toppers’ 2026 Rookie of the Year ballot selections for the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) awards. The ballot requires votes out to five places for Rookie of the Year in each league.Players are shown with their team and their Box-Toppers point (BTP) total for 2026.
| AL Rookie of the Year | |||
| Player | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Munetaka Murakami | White Sox | 7.0 |
| 2 | Kazuma Okamoto | Blue Jays | 6.0 |
| 3 | Parker Messick | Guardians | 11.7 |
| 4 | Payton Tolle | Red Sox | 11.7 |
| 5 | Wade Meckler | Angels | 5.0 |
| NL Rookie of the Year | |||
| Player | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Sal Stewart | Reds | 13.0 |
| 2 | Carson Benge | Mets | 6.0 |
| 3 | Logan Henderson | Brewers | 10.4 |
| 4 | JJ Wetherholt | Cardinals | 5.0 |
| 5 | Nolan McLean | Mets | 8.0 |
For example, in the American League Rookie of the Year standings, Munetaka Murakami ranks first with 7.0 Box-Toppers points, ahead of Guardians pitcher Parker Messick (11.7 points). Doubling Murakami's total gives him an adjusted 14.0 points for ranking purposes, placing him ahead of Messick.
While Rookie of the Year and MVP honors historically lean toward position players, pitchers can earn the award during dominant campaigns or in years without a runaway batter candidate.
But Kevin McGonigle of the Tigers, who won the American League Rookie of the Year Award, was not among Box-Toppers’ top five candidates for the award and ranked tied for 17th among AL rookies in 2026 Box-Toppers points. Munetaka Murakami of the White Sox, Box-Toppers’ choice for top AL rookie, finished fourth in voting.
The top rookie awards were announced Monday, chosen by a vote of the Baseball Writers Association of America. Here is how Box-Toppers’ point-based selections compared to the writers’ ballots.
AL Rookie of the Year
McGonigle won the award, receiving 28 of 30 first-place votes (see AL voting chart). He earned 3.5 Box-Toppers points in 2026, tied for 17th among AL rookies and tied for fifth among AL rookie batters.
McGonigle hit 18 home runs, 72 runs batted in and posted a .806 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) in 156 games. He ranked fifth among AL batters in hits (168), 10th in total bases (260) and second in times on base (266). However, he won Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors just three times: June 7, Aug. 1 (also winning AL Batter of the Day honors) and Aug. 11.
By contrast, Box-Toppers’ choice for the award, Murakami, finished fourth in voting (receiving two second-place votes). He earned 7.0 Box-Toppers points in 2026, most among AL rookie batters, ninth among all AL batters and twice as many as McGonigle’s 3.5. Because Box-Toppers doubles batters’ point totals when ranking them directly against pitchers for major awards, Murakami’s adjusted 14.0 points topped the 11.7 points logged by the AL’s top two rookie pitchers, Parker Messick of the Guardians and Payton Tolle of the Red Sox.
Murakami hit 35 home runs (fifth among AL batters) with 77 RBIs in 127 games, finishing ninth in slugging (.478) and 10th in OPS (.825). Despite missing over a month with a right hamstring strain, he earned seven Player of the Game honors—all before August: April 4, April 17 (AL Batter of the Day), April 27, May 22, July 26 (AL Batter of the Day) and July 29.
Box-Toppers’ second-place AL rookie choice, Kazuma Okamoto of the Blue Jays, finished seventh in voting. He earned 6.0 Box-Toppers points in 2026 (ninth among AL rookies), which doubled to an adjusted to 12.0 points to place him second on Box-Toppers’ ballot.
Guardians pitcher Parker Messick (11.7 points) and Red Sox pitcher Payton Tolle (11.7 points) ranked third and fourth on Box-Toppers’ ballot. (Messick owned the tiebreaker by earning 1.0 Box-Toppers point in 2025.) Writers voted Messick second (with two first-place votes) and Tolle third.
All 13 AL rookies who received votes Monday earned at least 1.0 Box-Toppers point in 2026.
NL Rookie of the Year
Stewart won the NL Rookie of the Year Award, receiving 20 of the 30 first-place votes (see NL voting chart).
Stewart’s 13.0 Box-Toppers points led all rookie players, ranked 23rd among all MLB players and led all players serving solely as batters in 2026. Stewart ranks second among NL batters behind two-way player Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers (15.7). (While Ohtani earned 8.7 of his points as a pitcher, he qualified to rank among both pitchers and batters with his full 15.7-point total.)
Playing in all 162 games, Stewart ranked eighth among NL batters in home runs (32) and second in RBIs (112). He won Player of the Game honors 11 times (* indicates NL Batter of the Day honors, worth 1.5 total points): April 15*, April 20, April 25*, May 20, June 16, June 20, July 22, July 31*, Aug. 6, Aug. 13* and Aug. 28.
Carson Benge of the Mets finished second in voting, including winning seven first-place votes. He was also second on Box-Toppers’ NL rookie ballot, earning 6.0 Box-Toppers points, adjusted to 12.0 to compare with pitchers.
Box-Toppers’ third-place choice on the NL rookie ballot, Brewers pitcher Logan Henderson, finished sixth in voting, including winning one second-place vote. Henderson’s 10.4 points rank second among NL rookies, but third among adjusted NL rookie totals, behind Stewart and Benge.
Box-Toppers’ fourth-place choice on the NL rookie ballot, JJ Wetherholt of the Cardinals, finished third in voting, including winning three first-place votes. Wetherholt earned 5.0 Box-Toppers points in 2026, eighth among NL rookies, but when adjusted to 10.0, elevated him to fourth.
All nine NL rookies who received votes Monday earned at least 2.0 Box-Toppers points in 2026.
IBWAA rookie voting
Box-Toppers participates in the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) postseason voting. Here is how IBWAA members voted:
American League
Kevin McGonigle, Tigers (208 points)
Parker Messick, Guardians (121 points)
Payton Tolle, Red Sox (54 points)
Munetaka Murakami, White Sox (52 points)
Chase DeLauter, Guardians (31 points)
National League
Sal Stewart, Reds (170 points)
JJ Wetherholt, Cardinals (151 points)
Carson Benge, Mets (99 points)
Nolan McLean, Mets (81 points)
TJ Rumfield, Rockies (33 points)
IBWAA members include more than 800 baseball writers and content creators. Voting for full-season awards takes place prior to the start of the postseason each year, with selections announced in November.
About Box-Toppers
Box-Toppers tracks who contributes most to their team’s victory. Using standard box score statistics, we identify the Player of the Game for every MLB contest. In the regular season, winners earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point, with bonus points awarded to the top overall and league-specific players of the day. More on how Box-Toppers works.
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A Box-Toppers look at past Rookie of the Year voting:
2025: Baldwin, Kurtz win Rookie of Year Awards, but B‑T top AL rookie Lopez receives no votes
2024: Box-Toppers’ top AL rookie Gil wins AL Rookie of Year; top NL rookie Imanaga finishes 4th
2023: Box-Toppers’ top AL rookie Henderson wins AL Rookie of the Year; top NL rookie Outman finishes 3rd
2022: Box-Toppers’ top AL rookie Rodriguez wins AL Rookie of the Year; top NL rookie Strider finishes 2nd
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
Kevin McGonigle of the Tigers was voted AL Rookie of the Year. However, Box-Toppers’ choice for top AL rookie is Munetaka Murakami of the White Sox, who finished fourth in AL Rookie of the Year voting. Here is the order of finish for the AL rookie award. Also shown are the votes each player received from baseball writers for first through fifth place, plus their overall voting point totals. Also shown are each player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total for 2026 and their Box-Toppers rank among AL players with rookie status.| AL rookies | Team | Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Points | BTP | Rank† | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kevin McGonigle | Tigers | 3b ss | 28 | 2 | 204 | 3.5 | T17 | |||
| 2 | Parker Messick | Guardians | pi sp | 2 | 25 | 2 | 1 | 122 | 11.7 | 1 | |
| 3 | Payton Tolle | Red Sox | pi sp | 12 | 6 | 6 | 54 | 11.7 | 2 | ||
| 4 | Munetaka Murakami* | White Sox | 1b | 2 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 39 | 7.0 | 5 | |
| 5 | Carter Jensen | Royals | ca | 4 | 9 | 1 | 31 | 1.5 | T43 | ||
| 6 | Chase DeLauter | Guardians | rf | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 23 | 4.5 | 15 | |
| 7 | Kazuma Okamoto | Blue Jays | 3b | 1 | 4 | 6 | 17 | 6.0 | 9 | ||
| 8 | Tristan Peters | White Sox | lf cf | 2 | 1 | 4 | 12 | 3.0 | T19 | ||
| 9 | Walbert Ureña | Angels | pi sp | 1 | 2 | 9.0 | 4 | ||||
| 9 | Travis Bazzana | Guardians | 2b | 1 | 2 | 3.5 | T17 | ||||
| 9 | Sam Antonacci | White Sox | lf | 1 | 2 | 1.0 | T45 | ||||
| 12 | Henry Bolte | Athletics | rf | 1 | 1 | 3.0 | T19 | ||||
| 12 | Dylan Beavers | Orioles | lf | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | T45 |
† Rookie of the Year candidates are ranked among their league’s rookies in Box‑Toppers points. There were 66 AL players with rookie status who earned Box-Toppers points in 2026.
* Murakami was Box-Toppers' choice for the award, even though he ranked fifth in Box-Toppers points among AL rookies. Box-Toppers doubles batters’ point totals when ranking them in direct competition with pitchers for major postseason to balance batters’ lower overall point-earning totals. With the adjustment, Murakami doubles to 14.0 points, ahead of top AL rookie pitchers Parker Messick and Payton Tolle (11.7 points each).
National League Rookie of the Year voting
Sal Stewart of the Reds, voted NL Rookie of the Year, was also Box-Toppers choice for the award. He earned 13.0 Box-Toppers points in 2026, most among all NL rookies. Here is the order of finish for the NL rookie award. Also shown are the votes each player received from baseball writers for first through fifth place, plus their overall voting point totals. Also shown are each player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total for 2026 and their Box-Toppers rank among NL players with rookie status.| NL rookies | Team | Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Points | BTP | Rank† | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sal Stewart* | Reds | 1b | 20 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 170 | 13.0 | 1 |
| 2 | Carson Benge | Mets | rf | 7 | 3 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 107 | 6.0 | 6 |
| 3 | JJ Wetherholt | Cardinals | 2b | 3 | 12 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 99 | 5.0 | 8 |
| 4 | Nolan McLean | Mets | pi sp | 6 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 70 | 8.0 | 3 | |
| 5 | TJ Rumfield | Rockies | 1b ph | 3 | 3 | 9 | 10 | 49 | 2.5 | T24 | |
| 6 | Logan Henderson | Brewers | pi sp | 1 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 10.4 | 2 | ||
| 7 | Bryce Eldridge | Brewers | 1b dh | 2 | 2 | 3.5 | T14 | ||||
| 8 | Didier Fuentes | Braves | pi mr | 2 | 2 | 2.0 | T29 | ||||
| 9 | A.J. Ewing | Mets | cf | 1 | 1 | 3.5 | T14 |
† Rookie of the Year candidates are ranked among their league’s rookies in Box‑Toppers points. There were 69 NL players with rookie status who earned Box-Toppers points in 2026.
* Sal Stewart was Box-Toppers choice for the award, leading all NL rookies with 13.0 Box-Toppers points.