The first Rookie of the Year was given in 1947 to Brooklyn Dodgers infielder Jackie Robinson. In the 69 years since then, 16 other Dodgers have joined him in winning the award. 70 years of ROYs, 17 Dodger winners. Let's list them.
- 1981: Fernando Valenzuela
- 1982 Steve Sax
- 1992: Eric Karros
- 1993: Mike Piazza
- 1994: Raul Mondesi
- 1995: Hideo Nomo
- 1996: Todd Hollandsworth
- 2016: Corey Seager
- 2017: Cody Bellinger?
- 1947: Jackie Robinson
- 1949: Don Newcombe
- 1952: Joe Black
- 1953: Jim Gilliam
- 1960: Frank Howard
- 1965: Jim Lefebvre
- 1969: Ted Sizemore
- 1979: Rick Sutcliffe
- 1980: Steve Howe
Five in a row in the 90s! Earlier today, Cody Bellinger hit his 35th home run. He is just four away from breaking Frank Robinson and Wally Berger's debut season record. He and Judge have been by far the best rookies in baseball this year; in fact, they are the first pair of rookies to hit 35 homers in a season in baseball history. Even though Judge has been terrible in the second half, he has maintained his WAR lead, 5.7 to 3.9.
Back to the Dodgers' rookies. How have they done it? Well, obviously they've had some great players. Corey Seager (6.1 WAR), Hideo Nomo (4.7), Mike Piazza (7.0), Fernando Valenzuela (4.8), Joe Black (4.4), Don Newcombe (5.6), and Jackie Robinson (3.1) all played great in the years they won. But, they've also received some love for playing in LA. Eric Karros (0.4) beat Reggie Sanders (2.5) and Moises Alou (2.5) in 1992. Todd Hollandsworth (1.1) was voted over Edgar Renteria (3.2) in '96. And Steve Howe (0.5) got it in 1980 over four other players with above 2.0 WAR.
Cody Bellinger is great at baseball. He deserves the NL Rookie of the Year. Let the next Dodgers ROY be as good as the beautiful lefty slugger.
Baseball is here! And more importantly, that means the over/under game is back. It seems as though everyone is an expert this time of year. Somehow we convince ourselves that we are better at predicting baseball outcomes than everyone else. Well, AFITB is putting that to the test for the third year in a row. Think you know more about baseball than us? You probably do. But go ahead and prove it anyway.