The Class of 2024 needs a valedictorian.
The competition is steep, considering the quantity of candidates, and the competition is stiff, considering the quality of candidates.
Among those in the National League’s rookie class is Masyn Winn, the Cardinals shortstop who flirts with wizardry. In his first full season, he very well could win a Gold Glove — he’s currently tied for first in defensive runs saved among shortstops. And he saves them with a Ryan Helsley flair, flame-throwing balls triple digits across the diamond. And at the bat, Winn entered Monday hitting .299, tied for ninth-best among all hitters in the National League and, wouldn’t you know, first among the rookies.
So yeah, maybe Winn is the National League’s No. 1 rookie.
Or maybe ... No. 5?
Or even ... No. 10?
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The NL rookie class is exceptional — potentially historically, considering the likes of Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes, San Diego’s Jackson Merrill and Milwaukee’s Jackson Chourio are earmarked for greatness.
And then consider the advantage of some current front-runners for rookie of the year honors — they’re rookies only in classification. The Cubs’ Shota Imanaga, for instance, is 30. The longtime Japanese professional made the jump to America’s major leagues and, so far, is somehow even better than he was overseas. After his first nine starts, the Chicago southpaw had a 0.84 ERA. Even if he had a, say, 2.84 ERA, he would’ve been deemed a revelation, yet there he was, sub-1.
And in perhaps a telling moment to Cardinals fans that the Brewers are for real, Milwaukee lit up Imanaga in the pitcher’s 10th start. He allowed seven earned runs in 4⅓ innings. His ERA ballooned — to 1.86.
And is he even the best National League rookie Japanese pitcher?
Last year, some readers might recall my midsummer night’s dream of the Cardinals possibly signing Yoshinobu Yamamoto. But I don’t think anyone could’ve anticipated how high the price would become — the Dodgers signed the 25-year-old hurler for $325 million for 12 years (12 years!), plus paid an additional $100 million for the posting fee and the signing bonus.
So far, Yamamoto is pitching fluttering baseballs to befuddled batters.
Now, his first start for LA was against San Diego in South Korea, a week before the season started in the states. Yamamoto allowed five runs in one inning. Since then, in 11 starts, he has a 2.68 ERA. Overall, it’s 3.32. And he’s got 76 strikeouts and just 14 walks in 65 innings.
Skenes is baseball’s top pitching prospect, yet he might not even be the best Pirates rookie pitcher. OK, he’ll probably end up being the best Pittsburgh rookie pitcher, but Jared Jones has 70 strikeouts in 63⅓ innings. And Jones’ WHIP is 1.01, just behind rookie leader Imanaga’s 1.00. As for Skenes, per Sarah Langs of , he’s one of six pitchers with 30-plus strikeouts and five or fewer walks in his first four career starts since 1901.
Up in Milwaukee, in addition to Chourio, the Brewers have rookie third baseman Joey Ortiz and his NL rookie-leading .892 on-base plus slugging percentage. On Monday, Ortiz was named the NL rookie of the month for May. He had a .978 OPS. That’s, um, good.
The Cubs, meanwhile, have a hitter who could compete with teammate Imanaga and others for the yearlong rookie hardwood. Michael Busch is no Mike Bush, but he’s pretty good at his job, too. The Chicago first baseman leads NL rookies with eight homers and 23 RBIs. He also leads rookies with 67 strikeouts. He’s Nolan Gorman-esque. And his .784 OPS is second among NL rookies.
Third? It’s Winn at .774, an impressive clip considering he’s not much a slugger. But he’s a brilliant line-drive hitter. And after a frigid beginning to his MLB career last fall — as he’s done when starting most new levels in the Cardinals system — he’s become a dangerous offensive weapon. He entered Monday with the third-best batting average in baseball with two strikes (.289). Not just among rookies.
And defensively, he’s a showman.
“His range is off the charts, and he gets to balls as good as anybody at short who I’ve ever seen from a range (standpoint),” Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado recently said. “Obviously, his arm is better than anybody out there. He’s got a chance to be great. One thing that I appreciate about Masyn is — he takes a lot of pride in his defense. ... That’s hard to find sometimes with guys. Offense has become so much of the focus. But he really does a good job.”
Winn has fired the hardest throw of any shortstop this season — 101.2 mph — and his average throw speed of 93.7 mph is second in baseball to the Reds’ Elly De La Cruz (95.2).
“He plays a pretty special shortstop from what I’ve seen — and I’ve been around the game a good bit,” Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas recently said. “And it’s not just his arm. His ability to get up off the ground, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anyone get up off the ground quicker than that in my career. ... He has the special ability to make those diving plays and then uses that great arm of his.”