Awards Week got underway with the Rookie of the Year announcement, and that honor has always offered the clearest look at what’s coming next in baseball. The award has a habit of pointing straight at future stars, from All-Stars to Hall of Famers, so the spotlight is on the winners being revealed now on MLB Network and MLB+.
The American League race has three finalists, and the headliner is McGonigle, whose rookie season for the Tigers came after he skipped Triple-A and made the Opening Day roster. He didn’t just hold his own; he piled up 7.1 bWAR, the best mark in the AL among all players, rookies included.
McGonigle also became the first rookie since Ted Williams in 1939 to reach at least 97 runs, 28 doubles, 18 home runs, 72 RBIs and 95 walks. On top of that, he ranked second in the league in offensive bWAR at 6.0, behind only Astros slugger and MVP candidate Yordan Alvarez, and he finished sixth in defensive bWAR with 1.9.
Parker Messick put together a workhorse season for Cleveland. The left-hander made 32 starts, threw 186 1/3 innings, which ranked seventh in MLB, and posted a 2.56 ERA, sixth among qualified starters.
He struck out 193 batters and finished with a 6.3 WAR by Baseball Reference, second among AL rookies behind McGonigle. For comparison, Tolle had a 2.9 bWAR over 26 starts.
Tolle’s case is built on how loud his underlying numbers were. His Baseball Savant page is packed with red, including a 95th-percentile xERA of 2.70, 90th-percentile xBA at .199, 96th-percentile chase rate of 36.4, 86th-percentile strikeout rate of 28.4 and 98th-percentile extension at 7.4 feet. In 26 starts, he held opponents to two earned runs or fewer 16 times.
In the National League, Benge made his mark with a strong arm and a well-rounded bat. The Mets outfielder led the league with 10 outfield assists from right field, but that was only part of the story.
If you remove the first 30 games of his career, he finished at .302/.366/.462 with 20 doubles, 18 homers and 16 stolen bases across 126 games. Among the four Major Leaguers who hit above .302 in that span, only Yordan Alvarez had more than 18 homers, and Alvarez is not a rookie.
Stewart’s season for Cincinnati carried a different kind of weight. After a one-month cameo in 2025, he opened 2026 in the majors and immediately slotted into the fourth spot in Terry Francona’s lineup, a clear sign of the Reds’ trust in him. The 22-year-old first baseman hit .263 with a .787 OPS, 32 home runs and 112 RBIs.
Stewart also joined rare company. He became the first Reds rookie, and the 15th rookie overall, to post a 30-homer, 100-RBI season. Every one of the previous nine players to do that since the Rookie of the Year Award began in 1947 won the award, including Pete Alonso in 2019, Aaron Judge in 2017 and Albert Pujols in 2001.
In Other News...
Jonathan Stewart Just Delivered A Reds Rookie Season Fans Wont Forget
Jonathan Stewarts first full season in Cincinnati ended with the kind of recognition that usually follows a breakout year, not just a promising one. The Baseball Writers Association of America named him National League Rookie of the Year after a campaign in which he played all 162 games, hit .263 and powered the Reds lineup with 32 home runs and 112 RBIs.
For a club that spent the season leaning on his bat, Stewarts production stood out not only across the league but in franchise history, where he reset the rookie standard for power and run production. He led NL rookies in several offensive categories and gave the Reds a middle-of-the-order presence they could count on every day, even as the bigger question now is what comes next after a season like this. [Read more 🡒]
Reds May Need An Unusual Offseason Move To Fix Their Pitching
The Reds are heading into an offseason where the pitching staff could look different, and that kind of uncertainty tends to push a front office toward less familiar avenues. One possibility that has surfaced is Japan, where Cincinnati could consider adding a starter with a track record of durability and enough versatility to help stabilize a rotation that may need reinforcements.
The fit is not straightforward, though. Cincinnati does not have the kind of long-standing ties to Nippon Professional Baseball that make these moves feel routine, so any pursuit would require real conviction and a willingness to step outside the usual market. For a club trying to protect itself against possible departures on the mound, the appeal is obvious, even if the path to getting there is still unclear. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Fans Have Every Reason To Push Back On This Award Race
Sal Stewart gave the Reds plenty to feel good about in his rookie season, and the bat alone made him one of the most productive first-year players in the National League. He finished third in the league in RBIs and added 32 home runs, the kind of power output that can carry a lineup and shape an award race all by itself.
Still, Rookie of the Year is rarely decided on offense alone, and this one has a few layers for anyone looking beyond the counting stats. The finalists include Stewart, Cardinals second baseman JJ Wetherholt and Mets right fielder Carson Benge, and the broader numbers paint a different picture, with Wetherholt and Benge bringing more complete value across the board. For Reds fans, the case for Stewart is obvious, but so is the argument that the race may be tighter than his home run total suggests. [Read more 🡒]