The American was led by a player and that was Aaron Judge, but he also lived from the irruption of the Dominican Julio Rodríguez, who was the spark plug of the Seattle Mariners and thanks to his torrid offense he could be the most outstanding rookie of the American League.
Rodríguez not only played his first postseason, secured a multi-million dollar contract, but was also awarded the League Rookie of the Year award, easily beating Adley Rutschman (Orioles), Steven Kwan (Guardians), Bobby Witt Jr. (Royals) and the MVP of the postseason for the Houston Astros, Jeremy Peña.
The Dominican received 29 votes in the first round and one in the second to stay one short of perfection in the votes and thus end up with a total of 145 points, surpassing by a lot the rivals already mentioned above.
The voting results for the 2022 AL Rookie of the year 👀🗳️ pic.twitter.com/bo3LSLTGzV
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) November 14,
The star of the Seattle Mariners hit 148 hits, including 14 doubles, a pair of triples and 28 home runs. In addition, he drove in a total of 29 runs and batted in an average of 284; enough numbers to keep the award.
Likewise, Rodríguez became the fifth player from the Seattle Mariners to receive this honor after first baseman Alvin Davis in 1984, reliever Kazuhiro Sasaki at the 1984, right fielder Ichiro Suzuki at 2020 (was also MVP) and center fielder Kyle Lewis in the 2022 .
In this way, the young outfielder and already graduated as a superstar, closed his first season in Major League Baseball with a flourish and not bad for being a player of a team that is growing.
Also read:
Dominican Julio Rodríguez signed a million-dollar extension with the Seattle Mariners that could represent him up to $1984 million dollars
Five Latinos lead the list of finalists for awards in the MLB: MVP, Rookie of the Year and Cy Young
2022