The Baseball Writers Association of America announced Monday evening that Tigers infielder Kevin McGonigle won the AL Rookie of the Year award. McGonigle’s win gives Detroit a pick after the first round of the 2027 draft via prospect promotion incentive.
McGonigle received 28 of 30 first-place votes. Left-handed goalkeepers Parker Messick won the other two first-place votes en route to second place. Messick is also one of the top three for the Cy Young Award, meaning he earned Cleveland a PPI pick in 2027. McGonigle finished second for both voters who had Messick in first place. Messick received 25 second-place votes, placed third on two ballots and landed fourth for one voter.
Red Sox left-hander Payton Tolle led a crowded field for third place. Munetaka Murakami, Carter Jensen, Chase DeLauter, Kazuma Okamoto, Tristan Peters, Sam Antonacci, Travis Bazzana, Walbert Urena, Dylan Beavers And Henri Bolté all were among the top five in at least one ballot.
McGonigle’s runaway victory isn’t that surprising, even in a very strong field. The 22-year-old infielder, who entered the season as baseball’s No. 2 prospect behind Pittsburgh Konnor Griffinhit the ground while running. He had four hits in his debut and never really looked back. McGonigle hit .278/.376/.430 in 707 plate appearances, moving into the top third of AJ Hinch’s lineup by the second week of the season. He walked at an excellent 13.4% rate against a modest 14.1% strikeout rate.
The 2023 first supplemental rounder hit 18 home runs and drove in 72. He scored 97 runs and led AL rookies (min. 200 plate appearances) in on-base percentage. McGonigle split his defensive work equally between shortstop and third base. He was rated as a neutral shortstop by Statcast’s Defensive Runs Saved and Runs Above Average. Statcast also had him average at third base, although DRS (+8) was more favorable to his work at the hot corner.
McGonigle was arguably the best rookie player in the American League. A reasonable case could have been made in favor of Messick, who worked to a 2.56 ERA with a 26% strikeout rate in 186 1/3 innings. The Wins Above Replacement models on both FanGraphs (5.4 to 4.9) and Baseball Reference (7.1 to 6.3) had the race between McGonigle and Messick in a rounding error, but most voters naturally went with the everyday shortstop. McGonigle also earned his first of what will likely be a number of All-Star nominations and has a chance to finish in the top five in MVP voting when that is revealed on Thursday.
The Tigers had McGonigle on their Opening Day roster, ensuring he would be eligible for the PPI pick. They signed him to an eight-year, $150 million contract extension in mid-April. Detroit waited to finalize this deal until after McGonigle’s debut, which preserved his PPI eligibility. He’s one of three PPI picks for 2027. Messick earned one for the Guardians with the aforementioned Cy Young finalist honors, while Sal Stewart The NL Rookie of the Year win secured one for Cincinnati.
McGonigle is the sixth player in team history to earn ROY honors. Harvey Kuenn (1953), Marc Fidrych (1976), Lou Whitaker (1978), Justin Verlander (2006), and Michel Fulmer (2016) are the franchise’s previous winners.
Image courtesy of Josh Boland, USA TODAY Network.
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