AL Rookie of the Year, 3B: Gunnar Henderson vs. Josh Jung

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 All baseball season I thought that Josh Jung was easily going to win the rookie of the year award. Now I'm not so sure. While Josh Jung has been consistently great all season, Gunnar Henderson, on the other hand, started off the season terribly. Trust me. He was on my fantasy team. Nonetheless, he's shaped up a bit, and is now having an amazing season. Which one of these third basemen is more likely to win the Rookie of the Year Award? Let's see.

Gunnar Henderson is slashing a nice .258/.328/.493 on the season with 27 homers, 98 runs and 81 RBIs in 145 games on the season. His home run rate is 4.5%, with the league average being 3%, and his strikeout rate is 25.4%, about 3% higher than the league average.

Josh Jung is slashing .274/.320/.486 with 23 homers, 74 runs and 70 RBIs in 115 games this season. His home run rate is 4.7%, almost identical to Gunnar's, and his K-rate is a whopping 29.4%, about 7% higher than the league average.

I'd personally give the offensive edge to Gunnar Henderson. He's also played 30 more games than Josh Jung, which will also help his case.


Gunnar Henderson (who also plays shortstop) is fielding .968 at the hot corner with a RF/9 of 2.34 this season. The MLB average is 2.51. At shortstop, Gunnar's FLD% is .971, about the league average, and his RF/9 is 3.77, slightly higher than the league average.

Josh Jung has played 114 games at third, and has been amazing there, fielding .987, 25 points higher than the average! His RF/9 is 2.84, 33 points above the average! He obviously gets the fielding edge over Henderson, and is probably a Gold Glove candidate.

Overall, I'm going to have to give the Rookie of the Year edge to Gunnar Henderson, mostly because he has played in more games. Both players are solid and I'm sure that they will be plenty good in the future.

I'd like to close this post with a draft of an e-mail that I almost sent to the Orioles while Gunnar was on my fantasy team and not doing well:


Message: I like Gunnar Henderson, and he is on my fantasy team. However, he is stinking it up, and I just saw a hitting coach for tips. I need him so my team won't hit 0-29 like they did last week. Here are some tips:


First: When striding, step in the same place as you started. This will make it easier to rotate the back hip.
Second: Keep good balance with a good leg kick. It will help you to hit off-speed pitches.

Thank you. (And Gunnar, I need you brother!)
Dominic.



It's so nice to see how he turned around his season.






Comments

  1. GTTSep 28, 2023, 6:27:00 PM

    It would have been epic if you had actually sent those tips to the Baltimore Orioles.

    Was it Joseph that was asking me why in the world I signed Gunnar Henderson? I won that round.

    IMO Gunnar Henderson is the ROY over Jung by far. He has a 126 OPS+ v. Jung's 112, and has played in 29 more games & 111 more plate appearances. Henderson also played a lot at short stop, a harder position, and did quite well.

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