Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles, Box-Toppers’ choice for 2023 American League Rookie of the Year, was also voted winner of the honor by baseball writers Monday.
Box-Toppers Rookie of the Year ballot
Here is a look at Box-Toppers’ 2023 Rookie of the Year ballot selections for the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) awards. The ballot requires votes out to three places in each leagues' Rookie of the Year.Players are shown with their team and their Box-Toppers point (BTP) total for 2023.
| AL Rookie of the Year | |||
| Player | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Gunnar Henderson | Orioles | 7.5 |
| 2 | Bryce Miller | Mariners | 13.1 |
| 3 | Ryan Noda | Athletics | 6.0 |
| NL Rookie of the Year | |||
| Player | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | James Outman | Dodgers | 8.7 |
| 2 | Ezequiel Tovar | Rockies | 6.5 |
| 3 | Kodai Senga | Mets | 12.7 |
While MVP is traditionally a batter's award, pitchers are eligible to win have won in recent seasons—Devin Williams of the Brewers in 2020 and Michael Fulmer of the Tigers in 2016.
But Corbin Carroll of the Diamondbacks, who won the National League Rookie of the Year honor, was not among Box-Toppers’ top three choices for top NL rookie. James Outman of the Dodgers, Box-Toppers’ choice for top NL rookie, finished third in voting.
The top rookie awards were announced Monday, chosen by a vote of the Baseball Writers Association of America.
AL Rookie of the Year
Henderson received all 30 of the 30 first-place votes for Rookie of the Year (see AL voting chart). He earned 7.5 Box-Toppers points in 2023 (89th among all players, eighth among AL batters and most among rookie batters), which was slightly more than half the point total of the top AL rookie pitcher, Bryce Miller of the Mariners (13.1).
In cases in which batters and pitchers are eligible for the same award, we give batters a generous, if arbitrary, benefit of the doubt and double their Box-Toppers point total when comparing them to pitchers. This gives Henderson an adjusted total of 15.0 points, which beats Miller’s 13.1.
While Henderson had the seventh-highest Box-Toppers point total among AL rookies, he trailed six pitchers, including Miller.
Though Miller had the most Box-Toppers points among all rookies, he did not receive any votes for Rookie of the Year. Miller’s 13.1 Box-Toppers points was 17th among all players and 11th among AL pitchers. Miller was Box-Toppers’ second-place choice for top AL rookie.
Third in Box-Toppers’ list for AL top rookie was Athletics first baseman Ryan Noda, who earned 6.0 Box-Toppers points in 2023, 144th among all players, 26th among AL batters, ninth among AL rookies and second among AL rookie batters. He received no Rookie of the Year votes.
While Henderson was among Box-Toppers’ three finalists for AL top rookie, none of the other seven who received votes were among our finalists.
Finishing second in voting was Guardians pitcher Tanner Bibee, 8.7 Box-Toppers points in 2023, 69th among all players, 37th among AL pitchers and third among AL rookies. While he had more Box-Toppers points than Henderson (7.5), with the batter’s points adjustment, Henderson beats him 15.0 to 8.7. Bibee was Box-Toppers’ seventh-ranked AL rookie.
Finishing third in voting was Triston Casas of the Red Sox, 5.5 Box-Toppers points in 2023, 159th among all players, 28th among AL batters and 10th among AL rookies. With batter’s point adjustments, he was Box-Toppers’ fourth-ranked AL rookie.
Most notable among the remaining five: Red Sox left fielder Masataka Yoshida, who earned 4.5 Box-Toppers points in 2023, 13th among AL rookies and fourth among AL rookie batters. He finished sixth in balloting with three third-place votes.
NL Rookie of the Year
Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll was voted National League Rookie of the Year by baseball writers, receiving all 30 of 30 first-place votes (see NL voting chart).
Carroll earned 3.0 Box-Toppers points in 2023 and was not among Box-Toppers’ finalists for the award, ranking 24th among all NL rookies and 10th among NL rookie batters.
Box-Toppers’ choice for the award, Dodgers center fielder James Outman, finished third in NL rookie voting. Outman had 8.7 Box-Toppers points in 2023, third among NL rookies and most among NL rookie batters. With his batters’ adjusted total of 17.4, he ranked atop NL rookies, ahead of Mets pitcher Kodai Senga, whose 12.7 Box-Toppers points led NL rookies. Senga finished second in NL rookie voting.
As we’ve stated previously, there’s no doubt Carroll had an outstanding season and when comparing season statistics, he beats Outman in just about every conceivable category. (Check this comparison of their seasons in Baseball Reference’s Stathead player comparison). But simply accumulating big statistics doesn’t necessarily produce results. It’s not necessarily the size that matters, as some claim in slightly unrelated matters, it’s what you’re able to do with it. To what end were these statistics accumulated? Did they help Carroll contribute to his team’s wins?
Only three times in 2023 did Carroll win Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors in a Diamondbacks win. Outman, by contrast, won Player of the Game honors seven times, more than twice as often as Carroll. Much more explanation on our reasoning of Outman over Carroll for top NL rookie in a previous post.
Box-Toppers’ second-ranked NL rookie finalist, Ezequiel Tovar of the Rockies, received no NL rookie votes. Tovar earned 6.5 Box-Toppers points in 2023, sixth among NL rookies and second among NL rookie batters.
The remaining six players who received votes for top NL rookie were not among Box-Toppers’ NL rookie finalists. Most notable among them is Reds infielder Elly De La Cruz, who earned 5.5 Box-Toppers points in 2023, tied for ninth-most among NL rookies and tied for third among NL rookie batters.
IBWAA rookie voting
Box-Toppers votes in the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) Rookie of the Year voting, which also picked Henderson and Carroll as top rookies.
American League
1st Place: Gunnar Henderson, Orioles—310 points
2nd Place: Josh Jung, Rangers—94 points
3rd Place: Triston Casas, Red Sox—91 points
National League:
1st Place: Corbin Carroll, Diamondbacks—309 points
2nd Place: Kodai Senga, Mets—127 points
3rd Place: James Outman, Dodgers—70 points
IBWAA members include more than 800 baseball writers and content creators. Voting for full-season awards takes place prior to the start of the postseason each year, with selections announced in November.
About Box-Toppers
Box-Toppers tracks who most helps their team win the most games. Using standard box score statistics, Box-Toppers uses a simple formula to determine a Player of the Game for each Major League Baseball game played. That player is the person who contributed most to his team’s win. In regular season games, players earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being named Player of the Game and can earn bonus points for being Player of the Day or top player or batter in their league for the day.
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Related
Box-Toppers’ Rookies of the Year: Outman outmans Carroll in NL; Henderson is top in AL
A look at Box-Toppers’ leaders for postseason awards, plus an award finalist overview
Box-Toppers 2023 player rankings leaders
A Box-Toppers look at past Rookie of the Year voting:
2022: Box-Toppers’ top AL rookie Rodriguez wins AL Rookie of the Year; top NL rookie Strider finishes 2nd
2021: Box-Toppers’ top-ranked rookies Dalbec, Rogers, lose Rookie of the Year honors to Arozarena, India
2020: Short season limited opportunity to shine for newcomers
2019: Padres’ Chris Paddack, Box-Toppers’ dominant rookie for 2019, receives no Rookie of the Year votes; Alonso, Alvarez receive rookie honors.
2018: Ronald Acuna Jr., Shohei Ohtani, who led rookies in Box-Toppers points, win awards.
2017: Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, who led league rookies in Box-Toppers points, win awards.
2016: Box-Toppers disagrees with writers’ unanimous choice for Corey Seager as NL Rookie of the Year.
American League Rookie of the Year voting
Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles, voted AL Rookie of the Year, was also Box-Toppers choice for the award. He earned 7.5 Box-Toppers points in 2023, most among AL rookie batters. Here is the order of finish for the AL rookie award. Also shown are the votes each player received from baseball writers for first, second and third place, plus their overall voting point totals. Also shown are each player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total for 2023 and their Box-Toppers rank among AL players with rookie status.| AL rookies | Team | Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Points | BTP | Rank† | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gunnar Henderson | Orioles | 3b dh ss | 30 | 150 | 7.5 | 7 | ||
| 2 | Tanner Bibee | Guardians | pi sp | 20 | 7 | 67 | 8.7 | 3 | |
| 3 | Triston Casas | Red Sox | 1b | 6 | 7 | 25 | 5.5 | 10 | |
| 4 | Josh Jung | Rangers | 3b dh ss | 3 | 7 | 16 | 3.5 | 17 | |
| 5 | Yainer Diaz | Astros | ca | 1 | 3 | 6 | 1.5 | T45 | |
| 6 | Masataka Yoshida | Red Sox | lf | 3 | 3 | 4.5 | 13 | ||
| 7 | Edouard Julien | Twins | 2b | 2 | 2 | 2.0 | T30 | ||
| 8 | Anthony Volpe | Yankees | ss | 1 | 1 | 1.5 | T45 |
† Rookie of the Year candidates are ranked among their league’s rookies in Box‑Toppers points. However, for awards in which batters and pitchers directly compete, we adjust the batters’ total (doubling it) to make them more competitive. That made Gunnar Henderson Box-Toppers’ choice as AL Rookie of the Year, with an adjusted Box-Toppers point total of 15.0. (Top-ranked AL rookie was Mariners pitcher Bryce Miller with 13.1 Box-Toppers points, who received no Rookie of the Year votes.) There were 87 AL players with rookie status who earned Box-Toppers points in 2023.
National League Rookie of the Year voting
Corbin Carroll of the Diamondbacks was voted NL Rookie of the Year. However, Box-Toppers’ choice for top NL rookie is James Outman of the Braves, who had 8.7 Box-Toppers points and finished third in NL Rookie of the Year voting. Here is the order of finish for the NL rookie award. Also shown are the votes each player received from baseball writers for first, second and third place, plus their overall voting point totals. Also shown are each player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total for 2023 and their Box-Toppers rank among NL players with rookie status.| NL rookies | Team | Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Points | BTP | Rank† | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Corbin Carroll | Diamondbacks | rf lf | 30 | 150 | 3.0 | 24 | ||
| 2 | Kodai Senga | Mets | pi sp | 22 | 5 | 71 | 12.7 | 1 | |
| 3 | James Outman | Dodgers | cf | 5 | 5 | 20 | 8.7 | 3 | |
| 4 | Nolan Jones | Rockies | lf | 2 | 11 | 17 | 3.5 | 20 | |
| 5 | Matt McLain | Reds | 2b ss | 1 | 2 | 5 | 3.5 | T21 | |
| 6 | Spencer Steer | Reds | 3b | 4 | 4 | 3.0 | 23 | ||
| 7 | Eury Perez | Marlins | pi sp | 1 | 1 | 6.0 | T7 | ||
| 7 | Elly De La Cruz | Reds | 3b ss | 1 | 1 | 5.5 | T9 | ||
| 7 | Patrick Bailey | Giants | ca | 1 | 1 | 3.5 | T21 |
† Rookie of the Year candidates are ranked among their league’s rookies in Box‑Toppers points. However, for awards in which batters and pitchers directly compete, we adjust the batters’ total (doubling it) to make them more competitive. That made James Outman Box-Toppers’ choice as NL Rookie of the Year, with an adjusted Box-Toppers point total of 17.4, ahead of top-ranked NL rookie, Mets pitcher Kodai Senga with 12.7 Box-Toppers points. There were 88 NL players with rookie status who earned Box-Toppers points in 2023.