Arizona’s Corbin Carroll named NL Rookie of the Year

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5/AP) — The Arizona Diamondbacks have the league’s top rookie. Outfield Corbin Carroll was unanimously named the National League Rookie of the Year on Monday.

This is the first time a Diamondback has been awarded Rookie of the Year. He hit 25 home runs and 54 stolen bases during the regular season, making the All-Star team and becoming the first rookie to join the 25-50 club. The D-backs had been the last of the current 30 teams without a Rookie of the Year winner.

The 23-year-old had high expectations coming into the season, and he exceeded them all, helping the Diamondbacks get to the World Series, where the Diamondbacks fell to the Rangers in five games.

During the 2023 season, he also had a .285 average, 76 RBIs, .362 OBP and .868 OPS. In March, he signed an eight-year $111 million contract extension. It was the largest guaranteed contract for any player with less than 100 days in MLB.

Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson was the unanimous winner of the Rookie of the Year award for the American League. It’s just the fifth time overall and the first time since 2017 that both the AL and NL selections were unanimous. The 22-year-old Henderson split time between third base and shortstop, providing above-average defense at both spots, while batting .255 with 28 homers, 82 RBIs, 100 runs, 29 doubles and 10 stolen bases. The numbers were strikingly similar to Orioles Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr.’s first full season — another shortstop who won the award in 1982.

Henderson and Carroll were part of a superb MLB rookie class — particularly for hitters. According to FanGraphs data, the advanced metric Wins Above Replacement total for all rookie hitters in 2023 (68.5) was the second-best since 1900, behind only the 2015 group (75.1) headlined by Kris Bryant, Francisco Lindor, Carlos Correa and others.

The Orioles and D-backs both get an extra selection after the first round of next July’s amateur draft, part of the prospect promotion incentive added to the collective bargaining agreement that began last year. The provision was included to discourage teams from delaying arbitration and free-agent eligibility.

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