Mariners center fielder Julio Rodriguez has been awarded the 2022 American League Rookie of the Year award, according to an announcement from the Baseball Writers Association of America. Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman finished second in the voting, while Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan scored third.
This year’s rookie category in the Junior Circuit has been outstanding, led by Rodríguez and Rutschman. The pair of top prospects hit the ground running against MLB pitching. Seattle brought Rodriguez on the roster as the opening day center fielder, looking to build on his astonishing 90-win campaign in 2021. The young outfielder got off to a rough start, thanks in part to a series of questionable strike calls early on . he goes, but he eventually became the best position player on a good club in Seattle.
Over 560 plate appearances, Rodriguez posted a .284/.345/.509 line. He connected on 28 home runs and swiped 25 bases in 32 attempts, one of four players (Kyle Tucker, Adolis García and Marcus Semien the others) to reach 25 long balls and steals each. Rodriguez was especially electric in the second half, posting a .303/.361/.576 line coming out of the All-Star Break to help Seattle reach its first postseason appearance in more than two decades.
Rodriguez also impressed on the other side of the ball, starting 130 games and playing 1126 2/3 innings in center field. Both Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast credited him with above-average defense, no small feat for a player some prospect evaluators suggested might be better suited to right field. The 21-year-old appears to have put any questions about his defensive home to bed for now.
Rutschman doesn’t make it to the hardware, though that’s more a matter of timing than any potential indictment of his performance. The first overall pick in the 2019 draft, the switch-hitting backstop hit in spring training and eventually started the year in the minors. He played 20 minor league games before receiving his first call-up in late May, a time when Rodriguez had already established himself as an AL favorite.
As soon as he reached the big league level, Rutschman emerged as Baltimore’s premier player. He hit .254/.362/.445 with 13 home runs in 470 plate appearances. Among the 29 catchers with at least 300 plate appearances, Rutschman trails only Toronto’s Alejandro Kirk in on-base percentage and finished eighth in slugging. The former Oregon State star also threw out 11 of 36 base-stealing attempts, ranked 18 runs above average with the glove by the measure of defensive runs saved and immediately stepped in to lead a staff of generally young release.
Rutschman is arguably one of the top three receivers in the sport, and his arrival helped kick off an incredible turnaround season for the O’s. 16-24 at the time of his promotion, Baltimore went 67-55 after his call-up and surprised much of the baseball world by flirting with Wild Card contention in September. They didn’t make the postseason, but they were much better than expected and positioned themselves for a more active offseason than they’ve had since starting their rebuild. Rutschman isn’t solely responsible for the Orioles’ turnaround, but he’s certainly the most important part of an increasingly promising team.
More to come.