Munetaka Murakami’s injury paves path for Guardians to gain ground in ROY voting

On Friday, the spunky Chicago White Sox got some rough news when they found out that star rookie Munetaka Murakami suffered a hamstring strain that’s going to force him to hit the injured list. 

While that injury will likely hamper the White Sox as they look to keep up with the Guardians in the American League Central, it will also provide the Guardians’ rookies with a clear opportunity to gain some ground in the AL Rookie of the Year race. 

Travis Bazzana, Chase DeLauter and Parker Messick have a great chance to bolster their Rookie of the Year chances

Although Murakami had to settle for a two-year, $34 million contract in the offseason after being projected to get a contract of 100+ million, he got off to a fantastic start this year and had racked up an AL-leading 20 home runs in 57 games prior to going on the injured list. 

He sustained the injury in the third inning when he was trying to beat out a ground ball, and is expected to miss a couple of weeks with the injury. 

Those weeks could be pivotal for the Guardians’ rookie trio of Parker Messick, Chase DeLauter and Travis Bazzana, who have all built strong Rookie of the Year cases but were clearly a couple steps behind Murakami. 

Of the three, Messick has the best chance to win thanks to his strong start to the season highlighted by a 2.24 ERA through 11 starts. He also carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning against the Orioles. 

Messick’s case is a bit more “boom or bust” than Bazzana or DeLauter given he only goes out every five days, but he’s been one of the most consistent pitchers in baseball through the first two months of the season. It’s hard to believe he’d have the kind of disastrous start that would tank his award case. 

And then there’s DeLauter and Bazzana, who have had yo-yo’ing award cases this season. DeLauter jumped to the front of the line earlier in the season when he smashed four home runs in the Guardians’ first three games, but he’s hit just three homers in the time since. 

He still has a .784 OPS with more walks than strikeouts (25 compared to 24), but his case has dropped a bit as his power has gone down. 

Meanwhile Bazzana has shot up the rookie leaderboards thanks to a .300/.402/.450 slashline with three home runs and 11 RBI in 28 games. While the Guardians’ decision to keep him in Triple-A for the first month of the season seemed confusing at the time, he’s made it look genius thanks to an incredibly productive approach at the plate. 

Although those three still have some solid competition in Tigers’ rookie Kevin McGonigle, Red Sox pitcher Payton Tolle and Toronto starter Trey Yesavage, none of those opponents had run away with the award in the same way Murakami had. 

Now the Guardians’ rookie trio will have a couple weeks to try to cut into that lead. 

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