21-year old Dominican outfielder Julio Rodriguez of the Seattle Mariners was awarded the American League Rookie of the Year – the Jackie Robinson Award. Rodríguez was a key player getting the Seattle Mariners to play in the postseason after a drought of 21 years. Rodríguez is from the 20,000 town of Loma de Cabrera on the border with Haiti. He was signed in 2017 and debuted in 2022 with the Seattle Mariners.
MLB reports that Rodríguez led all rookies in virtually every offensive stat, including home runs (28), Wins Above Replacement — by both Baseball-Reference (6.0) and FanGraphs (5.3) — OPS (.854), wRC+ (146) and total bases (260). He ranked second in slugging percentage (.509), RBIs (75), runs scored (84) and stolen bases (25) and finished third in hits (145).
Seattle’s star center fielder won the honor as voted by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. He welcomed the news while seated next to his parents.
He is the fifth player in Mariners history to win the award, joining Kyle Lewis (2020), Ichiro Suzuki (2001), Kazuhiro Sasaki (2000) and Alvin Davis (1984).
Rodríguez received 29 of 30 first-place votes for 148 points, with Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman receiving one first-place nod and a total of 68 points. Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan received 44 total points.
“There were just so many things that I didn’t know about being in the big leagues,” Rodríguez said. “I feel like it served as a learning experience, and I’m happy that I went through everything I went through in 2022, because it’s definitely going to build up a good foundation for 2023.”
Rodriguez is the eighth Dominican to win the award. Those before him were Alfredo Griffin (1979 with the Toronto Blue Jays); Raúl Mondesí (1994 with the Los Angeles Dodgers), Rafael Furcal (2000 with the Atlanta Braves), Albert Pujols (2001 with the St. Louis Cardinals), Angel Berroa (2003 with the Kansas City Royals), Hanley Ramírez (2006 with the Florida Marlins) and Neftalí Féliz (2010 with the Texas Rangers).
Jeremy Peña this year was chosen the Most Valuable Player of the American League. Peña was shortstop for the winning Houston Astros in the playoffs of the MLB. The Astros had selected Peña in the third round of the 2018 MLB draft, and he made his MLB debut in 2022. In 2022, Peña became the first rookie shortstop to win a Gold Glove Award and the first to hit a home run in the World Series.
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MLB
15 November 2022