The Baseball Writers Association of America announced Monday evening that Tigers infielder Kevin McGonigle has won the AL Rookie of the Year award. McGonigle’s win earns Detroit a pick after the first round of the 2027 draft via the Prospect Promotion Incentive.
McGonigle received 28 of 30 first-place votes. Guardians left-hander Parker Messick earned the other two first-place votes en route to the runner-up finish. Messick is also a top three finisher for the Cy Young award, which means he earned Cleveland a PPI pick in 2027. McGonigle finished second for the two voters who had Messick in the top spot. Messick received 25 second-place votes, placed third on two ballots, and landed fourth for one voter.
Red Sox southpaw Payton Tolle led a crowded field for the third-place finish. Munetaka Murakami, Carter Jensen, Chase DeLauter, Kazuma Okamoto, Tristan Peters, Sam Antonacci, Travis Bazzana, Walbert Ureña, Dylan Beavers and Henry Bolte all appeared in the top five on at least one ballot.
McGonigle’s runaway win doesn’t come as much surprise even in a very strong field. The 22-year-old infielder, who entered the season as the consensus #2 prospect in baseball behind Pittsburgh’s Konnor Griffin, hit the ground running. He had a four-hit performance in his debut and never really looked back. McGonigle batted .278/.376/.430 across 707 plate appearances, entrenching himself in the top third of A.J. Hinch’s lineup by the second week of the season. He walked at an excellent 13.4% clip against a modest 14.1% strikeout rate.
The 2023 supplemental first-rounder connected on 18 home runs and drove in 72. He scored 97 runs and led AL rookies (min. 200 plate appearances) in on-base percentage. McGonigle divided his defensive work evenly between shortstop and third base. He graded as a neutral shortstop defender by both Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast’s Outs Above Average. Statcast had him right around average at third base as well, though DRS (+8) was more favorable on his work at the hot corner.
McGonigle was unquestionably the best rookie position player in the American League. One could’ve made a reasonable case for Messick, who worked to a 2.56 ERA with a 26% strikeout rate across 186 1/3 innings. The Wins Above Replacement models at both FanGraphs (5.4 to 4.9) and Baseball Reference (7.1 to 6.3) had the race between McGonigle and Messick within a rounding error, but most voters understandably opted for the everyday shortstop. McGonigle also earned his first of what’ll probably be a number of All-Star nods and has a chance to finish in the top five in MVP balloting when that’s revealed on Thursday.
The Tigers carried McGonigle on their Opening Day roster, ensuring he’d be eligible for the PPI pick. They signed him to an eight-year, $150MM contract extension in the middle of April. Detroit waited to finalize that agreement until after McGonigle’s debut, which preserved his PPI eligibility. It’s one of three PPI picks for 2027. Messick earned one for the Guardians with the aforementioned Cy Young finalist honors, while Sal Stewart’s NL Rookie of the Year win secured one for Cincinnati.
McGonigle is the sixth player in team history to win ROY honors. Harvey Kuenn (1953), Mark Fidrych (1976), Lou Whitaker (1978), Justin Verlander (2006), and Michael Fulmer (2016) are the franchise’s previous honorees.
Image courtesy of Josh Boland, USA TODAY Network.
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