Guardians' attempt to end ROY drought could be halted by Tigers' Kevin McGonigle

You can’t talk about this year’s iteration of the Cleveland Guardians without talking about their rookies.

While not all nine of the rookie-eligible players who have played for the Guardians this season have been net positives, they have three top-tier rookies in Parker Messick, Chase DeLauter and Travis Bazzana, all of whom have already done enough to stake legitimate cases to earn the team’s first Rookie of the Year win since 1990.

But all of their quests to win the award could end up coming short thanks to Tigers rookie Kevin McGonigle, who is off to a fantastic start this season and just recorded another marquee moment thanks to a walk-off single against the Mariners on Sunday. 

Kevin McGonigle may prevent one of the Guardians’ rookies from winning Rookie of the Year 

McGonigle (who is the youngest player in the American League) is now slashing .291/.394/.426 with four home runs, 24 RBI and 38 walks. He leads all rookies with 2.5 fWAR. 

Although the Guardians are dominating the Tigers in the standings right now, McGonigle is the odds-on favorite to win the AL Rookie of the Year and has a clear leg up on the Guardians' trio. 

McGonigle had a great opening month, as he signed an eight-year, $150 million contact and also won AL Rookie of the Month after hitting.328 with two home runs and 13 RBI in 31 games 

Of the three Guardians rookies, Messick has the best Rookie of the Year case (right now) thanks to a 2.40 ERA in 75 innings (he leads all rookie pitches with 1.7 fWAR). But it can be really tough for pitches to win Rookie of the Year, as we saw with Tanner Bibee in 2023. 

Bibee authored a fantastic debut season with a 2.98 ERA in 2023 but ended up finishing second thanks to a generational season from Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson. Bibee did all you could ask a pitcher to do, but still ended up in second place. 

It seems like we’re tracking that way this season, as McGonigle’s production is up there with MVP candidates Bobby Witt Jr. and Yordan Alvarez. 

DeLauter staked his case for the award early with a fantastic opening week, but he hasn’t been able to keep that production up since. He still gets on base a ton (.329 on-base percentage), but he’s had just two extra-base hits over the past calendar month. That’s not going to win you Rookie of the Year. 

Bazzana off to a late start compared to everyone else since he didn’t make his MLB debut until the end of April, but he’s wasted no time making an impression. 

He’s recorded a .271/.355/.444 slashline in 36 games since being called up and has been worth 0.9 fWAR in that time, which is not far off McGonigle’s production in that time period (1.1 fWAR). 

The Guardians showed the world how highly they think of Bazzana a couple weeks ago when they moved him to the leadoff spot. Not only has that decision helped him reach a new level, it’s also given him more opportunities to get at-bats and impact winning. 

While it’s clear that Bazzana, Messick and DeLauter have helped the Guardians jump out to their huge lead in the division, McGonigle may end up standing in their way of earning recognition for their strong seasons. 

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