Jeff PassanESPN Nov 13, 2023 6:38pm ET5 minutes read
Five years after playing together in a showcase of America’s top high school baseball players, Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll and Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson won the Rookie of the Year award. This was only the fifth time the winners of both leagues had agreed.
Because both started the season in the major leagues and were among the top 100 prospects in baseball, their teams will receive an additional first-round pick in 2024 as part of the Prospect Promotion Incentive, which the players’ union had demanded in collective bargaining negotiations to prevent service time manipulation .
The 23-year-old Carroll is expected to finish at the top of the National League’s Most Valuable Player voting, which will be announced Thursday, after hitting .285/.362/.506 with 25 home runs and 54 stolen bases has, the second-most in the Major Leagues behind NL MVP favorite Ronald Acuna Jr.
The 22-year-old Henderson, who helped lead the Orioles to a 101-61 season and the American League East title, secured the award with a combination of power and savvy defense to become the team’s first rookie of the year Orioles since Gregg Olson in 1989.
Cleveland right-hander Tanner Bibee finished second — earning a full year of service despite making his debut in late April — and Boston first baseman Triston Casas finished third. New York Mets right-hander Kodai Senga finished second in the NL while James Outman of the Los Angeles Dodgers took third.
The last time both rookies of the year received 30 of 30 first-place votes was in 2017, when New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge and Dodgers first baseman Cody Bellinger won the awards. The other seasons with two unanimous winners were 1997 (Nomar Garciaparra of Boston and Scott Rolen of Philadelphia), 1993 (Tim Salmon of California and Mike Piazza of Los Angeles) and 1987 (Mark McGwire of Oakland and Benito Santiago of San Diego).
Carroll led off and Henderson batted sixth in the Under Armor All-American Game played at Wrigley Field on July 20, 2018, on a team that also included Kansas City shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. and the New York Yankees -Shortstop Anthony Volpe. Carroll was 2 for 3 with one run and Henderson was 1 for 3 with two RBIs.
“So many of the young, exciting players in our league happened to come from this year,” Carroll said. “I’m a fan of theirs too.”
With 6.0 FanGraphs wins above replacement, Carroll delivered one of the 10 most productive rookie seasons in the last half century – no surprise to Arizona, which secured Carroll an eight-year, $111 million contract in spring training after he shined at his debut at the end of the 2022 season with 115 plate appearances.
The Diamondbacks sneaked into the NL playoffs with 84 wins this year, edging out Milwaukee, Los Angeles and Philadelphia en route to the World Series, where they lost to Texas in their first appearance in more than two decades.
Carroll, a first-round draft pick in 2019, was proud to add another pick – and the corresponding bonus pool money of approximately $2.5 million – to the Diamondbacks’ coffers with the award.
“That’s probably the most important thing to me about pursuing something like this,” he said. “Not for personal fame or attention, but for the ability to help my team. I hope to be here long enough where hopefully that draft pick will be a star player for the Diamondbacks alongside me. Just being able to reward the belief of the front office. “I’m really special in that way.
The last unanimous winner in the NL was Bellinger, and Carroll is the 14th since officially winning Rookie of the Year honors in 1949.
The 30-year-old Senga was successful in his first MLB season after eleven years with the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in Nippon Professional Baseball. With his amazing ghost fork, a split-fingered fastball that disappears from the strike zone as it approaches the plate, Senga was one of the few bright spots for a Mets team that was faltering.
The 26-year-old Outman is the latest Dodgers development success story. He holds down center field, hitting .248/.353/.437 with 23 home runs, 70 RBIs and 16 stolen bases.
Henderson debuted towards the end of the 2022 season and only failed to fulfill his rookie eligibility 14 times. He had come through Baltimore’s system after signing for $2.3 million as a second-round pick out of high school in Selma, Alabama.
After spending most of the first half of the season as Baltimore’s third baseman, Henderson moved to shortstop – his natural position – and, along with Orioles catcher Adleyrutschman, formed perhaps the best young duo in baseball.
A wrist injury hampered Henderson in the first month, but he healed and highlighted why, like Carroll, he entered the year as the betting favorite for the award.
“It all worked out,” Henderson said.
Among shortstops, only Corey Seager and Francisco Lindor – both of whom have contracts worth $325 million or more – hit more home runs than Henderson’s 28. Henderson also drove in 82 runs and scored 100.
“We got a taste of it in the [ALDS]said Henderson. “Just to hear the energy of the crowd for that, that’s something I’d love to experience, especially at Camden Yards.”
Henderson was the 13th unanimous selection in AL history and the first since Seattle’s Kyle Lewis in 2020.
The 24-year-old Bibee, who joined the Guardians in late April, finished the season 10-4 with a 2.98 ERA – fourth-worst in the AL among starters with at least 140 innings. A fifth-round pick in the 2021 draft, Bibee, along with right-hander Gavin Williams and left-hander Logan Allen, was one of the best trios of rookie starting pitchers on a team in baseball history. Bibee received 20 second votes and appeared on 27 of 30 ballots.
The 23-year-old Casas beat a crowded field for third place. His 24 home runs ranked second behind Henderson among AL rookies, and his .367 on-base percentage ranked behind three Minnesota Twins: Edouard Julien, Royce Lewis and Matt Wallner. Casas beat out Texas Rangers third baseman Josh Jung for third place.
For winning the arbitration award, Henderson and Carroll will receive $750,000 as part of the pre-arbitration bonus pool in the CBA. Bibee will receive $500,000 for his second place finish, while Senga will receive no bonus as he was previously a pro in Japan.
Others who received votes in the AL included Houston catcher Yainer Diaz, Boston outfielder Masataka Yoshida, Julien and Volpe, who won the Gold Glove last week.
Others who received votes in the NL: Colorado outfielder Nolan Jones, who was just three points behind Outman and had the most votes in third place with 11; Matt McLain and Spencer Steer of Cincinnati; and Eury Perez of Miami, Elly De La Cruz of Cincinnati and Patrick Bailey of San Francisco, who each received one third-place vote.