MLB News: MLB Rookie of the Year: Who is most likely to win the big prize this year?
The 2023 MLB Best of the Season awards season will be announced the following week, and one of the most attractive awards is the Rookie of the Year, which this time around has two clear favorites.
Arizona Diamondbacks left fielder Carbin Carroll and Baltimore Orioles third baseman Gunnar Henderson are the ones with the best numbers and performance throughout the year, in two teams that changed the course of their recent history.
Arizona reached the World Series for the first time since 2001, and although they lost the Fall Classic to the Texas Rangers, the franchise had an unexpected year, finishing with an 84-78 record that put them in the postseason as a wild card team.
Carroll's numbers at the end of the regular season were a .285 batting average, with 25 home runs and 75 runs produced, in addition to totaling 54 base steals in 59 attempts and scoring 116 runs.
In March, Carroll signed an eight-year, $111 million contract and led the entire National League with 10 triples on the year, numbers that earned him an All-Star berth.
In the betting Carroll is the wide favorite with a line of -10,000, well ahead of Cincinnati Reds shorstop Matt McLain with a line of +1,500, while Washington Nationals pitcher Cade Cavalli is third in the betting at +2,000.
The Baltimore Orioles were not only crowned American League East Division champions for the first time since 2014 and for the second time so far this millennium, but also finished with the best record in the American League at 101-61.
Henderson, 22, finished the season with a .255 batting average, with 28 homers and 82 runs produced, in addition to scoring 100 runs, while defensively he even got to play shortstop and third base, adding significant defensive value to the Orioles.
Henderson is the favorite for the award with a line of -5,000, while the second place in the American betting is Los Angeles Angels catcher Logan O'Hoppe with a line of +2,000, while in the third position among the favorites is the third baseman of the champion Texas Rangers, Josh Jung, with a line of +5,000.
