Probably a BIT more of a discussion than 2023!
Last year, in case you’d forgotten, was close to the most one-sided vote in SnakePit Awards history. I almost didn’t bother holding a ballot, or having one with just a single name on it. To absolutely nobody’s surprise, the unanimous winner of the BBWAA award for NL Rookie of the Year, won the SnakePit award as well. This year, there is at least a discussion to be had regarding the winner, and the nominees. Though there are flat-out fewer candidates to begin with. In 2024, Arizona used only ten rookie-eligible players, the lowest total for a season since 2018 – even the COVID-shortened one had more – and barely a third of the 27 (!) used by the D-backs three years ago. [The all-time low is seven, in 2017]
Of the ten, three are position players and seven pitchers. They are listed below in alphabetical order for your consideration. The names in italics are those who still, according to their page on Baseball Reference, will have their rookie status intact for 2025.
- Blaze Alexander
- Jorge Barrosa
- Slade Cecconi
- Adrian Del Castillo
- Yilber Díaz
- Bryce Jarvis
- Justin Martínez
- Cristian Mena
- Andrew Saalfrank
- Blake Walston
Given that this shows half of the ten will still potentially be eligible again for this award next year, I’m half-inclined to cross them off and call it a day. However, I’m a little surprised BR says Walston lost his rookie status while Diaz didn’t – they both appeared in the same number of games (7), and Diaz pitched ten more innings (28.1 vs. 18.1). I think BR might be mistaken there, since Jack says Walston is still a rookie for 2025. So I’m prepared to let the crowd decide on this one. I think we probably have a clear favorite, a couple of dark horses, and a couple of fringe candidates. I will be quite surprised if Mr. Saalfrank gets any votes to move forward, having come dead-last in our player ratings.
Usual approach applies to this round. Here’s how it works.
- Go to the comments section.
- If your choice is already mentioned there, give it a “rec”.
- If your choice is NOT mentioned, paste the player’s name and leave that as a new comment. Feel free to explain your reasoning after that.
- Duplicate nominations will get deleted.
- On Wednesday, I’ll tally up the recs, and use those as a guide towards a list of five – or possibly less in this category, given the shortage of candidates.