Award season is rolling along, and Monday night brought the first round of MLB’s 2026 honors with the Rookie of the Year announcements in both leagues. Tigers infielder Kevin McGonigle entered the American League race as the clear favorite and finished the job. The National League, though, came with more debate, and the result landed on Reds infielder Sal Stewart over Mets outfielder Carson Benge and Cardinals infielder JJ Wetherholt.
Stewart’s case leaned heavily on the counting stats that still carry so much weight in these votes. The 23-year-old hit .263 with 32 home runs and 112 RBIs, while Benge posted a .282 average but finished with 20 homers and 65 RBIs.
Their OPS numbers were close, with Stewart at .776 and Benge at .787, and the two were separated by only four hits. Benge did have the edge on the bases, 22 steals to 15, and the OPS+ numbers were nearly identical at 118 and 117.
The biggest gap came in fWAR, where Benge’s 4.3 towered over Stewart’s 2.0, helped by strong defense in right field at a more valuable position than first base.
The American League vote is where the inconsistency really jumps out. White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami put together a power-heavy rookie season, blasting 35 home runs to lead all rookies even though he missed 35 games with a hamstring strain.
McGonigle, the winner, hit 17 homers and drove in fewer runs than Murakami. Murakami also topped him in slugging percentage, OPS and OPS+.
McGonigle was the better contact hitter and the more complete player overall, but Murakami still finished fourth in the voting and never even made the finalist group.
That’s the part that will stick in White Sox circles. The same traditional production that helped Stewart win in the National League did not get Murakami even a finalist nod in the American League. Different voters handled each league, so the standards may not have been perfectly aligned, but the contrast is hard to miss.
I’m not suggesting Murakami should’ve won the award. Kevin McGonigle deserved it and I likely would’ve voted for him as well.
But Murakami’s omission from even being a finalist while Stewart won the award in the National League shows the inconsistency in the standard of the voters. Granted, different people voted for each award, so perhaps the National League group just happened to be more voters that prefer the traditional numbers, but it’s infuriating nonetheless.
Had Murakami stayed healthy, he likely would have cleared 40 home runs and put together one of the best rookie seasons in White Sox history. Instead, his year didn’t even earn a finalist mention. The power was real, and the next step is obvious: tighten up the contact, cut down the strikeouts, and keep building toward the kind of season that finally brings him the hardware his bat suggests is coming.
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