Rookies Who Began Before The Award
PLUS: IT'S EXTENSION SEASON AS TEAMS SCRAMBLE TO KEEP STARS
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Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
Braves problem: no team has ever started 0-7 and reached the postseason but three teams started 10-0 or better and missed the playoffs (1962 Pirates, 1966 Indians, 1987 Brewers) . . .
Tropicana Field’s imploded dome could be fixed in time for the 2026 season after the St. Petersburg City Council authorized $22.5 million in repairs — but repairs to the playing surface and lighting will cost another $33.2 million that would be paid by the team, the Pinellas County, or the city, which owns The Trop. The Rays’ lease ruins through 2028 but there’s no guarantee they will stay without a new ballpark . . .
Speaking of misplaced teams, who knew Sutter Health Park would turn into such a hitters’ paradise? . . .
Freddie Freeman’s slip in the shower landed him on the injured list but the Dodgers didn’t miss a beat in his absence . . .
Still trying to figure how the Chicago Cubs spent some $100 million more than the Milwaukee Brewers last year but still finished 10 games behind that small-market team.
Leading Off
Rookie Raves Who Weren’t Rookies of the Year
By Dan Schlossberg
Before the advent of the Rookie of the Year Award in 1947, the best freshmen had nothing to show for their efforts other than new one-year contracts, often for a pittance.
Grover Cleveland Alexander, a 6'1" control pitcher who walked from a Nebraska farm into Philadelphia Phillies livery in 1911, won 28 games -– seven of them shutouts –- and fanned 227 hitters in 367 innings. No rookie has ever won more, though Christy Mathewson went 20-17 for the 1901 New York Giants.
Not only did they miss out on likely Rookie of the Year trophies but also Cy Young Awards, which were not given before 1956. Both men, who finished with 373 wins apiece, parlayed their strong starts into Hall of Fame plaques after the Cooperstown gallery opened, long after they retired.
Another Hall of Famer, Ted Williams, was also a terrific freshman. En route to a best-in-baseball .482 lifetime on-base percentage, the lanky left-handed hitter broke in with a bang when he hit .327 with 31 home runs and 145 runs batted in for the 1939 Boston Red Sox.
The four-time home run king also had a .639 career slugging percentage. Only in 1949, when he collected 159 RBI, did he knock in more runs than he did as a rookie.
Thin but muscular, it was no surprise that writers dubbed him “the Splendid Splinter.”
Two years before Williams burst onto the big-league scene, Rudy York was ripping rival pitchers in his debut season for the Detroit Tigers. The numbers tell the story: a .307 average, .651 slugging percentage, 35 home runs, and 101 runs batted in.
Those records were remarkable for a rookie catcher, standing until Mike Piazza hit .318 with 35 homers and 112 RBI for the 1993 Los Angeles Dodgers.
And let’s not overlook Shoeless Joe Jackson, who would belong to the Baseball Hall of Fame today had he not become embroiled in the 1919 Black Sox Scandal.
Jackson, like Williams an outfielder who batted left-handed, began his career with the 1911 Cleveland Naps (the same team later called the Indians before changing to the current Guardians).
All he did that year was hit .408 with 233 hits in 147 games, 41 stolen bases, and 83 runs batted in. He hit only seven home runs – not bad for the Dead Ball Era. No wonder Babe Ruth copied his swing.
Another Cleveland frosh, Hal Trosky, also merits a mention on this list. He hit .330 with 35 home runs and 142 runs batted in during his debut season in 1934. A rare slugger who walked more often than he struck out, he also played a solid first base.
Ed Reulbach of the 1905 Chicago Cubs also arrived with a flourish. His 18-14 pitching record seems ordinary until matched with his 1.42 earned run average.
A Reulbach contemporary, Russ Ford of the future New York Yankees, launched a short but spectacular career in 1910 with a 26-6 record and 1.65 ERA. Such a performance today would certainly earn him a long-term contract rich in dollars and years.
Because they were deprived of likely Rookie of the Year trophies, none of the men on this list could duplicate the post-war feats of Fred Lynn and Ichiro Suzuki, the only men to win rookie and MVP honors in the same season, or Fernando Valenzuela, the only pitcher to parlay the freshman award with a Cy Young.
Ted Williams took two MVPs but finished fourth in his first year. Later Rookies of the Year Jackie Robinson, Frank Robinson, Dick Allen, Albert Pujols, Cody Bellinger, and Cal Ripken, Jr. were also Most Valuable Player winners, though not in their first seasons. Aaron Judge, Mike Trout, and Shohei Ohtani also belong in that group, although Piazza missed (he finished second in MVP voting twice, in back-to-back years).
As for pitchers, Doc Gooden won both Rookie of the Year and Cy Young trophies, though not at the same time. Neither Hideo Nomo nor Mark Fidrych ever won a Cy Young despite their impressive first seasons. Nor did Herb Score or Kerry Wood.
Former AP sportswriter Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ is national baseball writer for forbes.com, columnist for Sports Collectors Digest, and contributor to USA TODAY Sports Weekly, Memories & Dreams, and many other outlets. He’s also the author of two Hank Aaron biographies plus the forthcoming New Baseball Bible. Contact him by email: ballauthor@gmail.com.
Cleaning Up
Contract Extensions Keep Players in Place
By Dan Schlossberg
Although the calendar has barely inched into April, teams are scrambling to sign their top talent to long-term extensions rather than risk losing players to free agency.
First baseman Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. has received several offers from the Toronto Blue Jays, who could also lose fellow infielder Bo Bichette this fall, but the rival Boston Red Sox have gotten several key signatures in the interim.
The heavy-hitting Guerrero, who could be the most coveted free agent this fall if he follows that path, is just 26 – the same age Juan Soto was when he jumped from the Yankees to the Mets for a contract that set new standards for years and dollars (15 years, $765 million plus escalator clauses).
Handing out such lengthy deals is obviously risky. Players could succumb to the vagaries of injuries and advancing athletic age.
But that didn’t stop the Boston Red Sox from extending both Garrett Crochet, the star pitcher they acquired from the Chicago White Sox, and talented but untested rookie second baseman Kristian Campbell.
Crochet, an All-Star last season, got a relatively long contract for a pitcher: six years at $170 million while Campbell accepted eight years at $60 million – quite a haul for a player with a grand total of 20 at-bats and six games in the big leagues. He was not only helped by a solid start (four doubles, four walks, and a home run) but by the fast fade of last year’s wunderkind, Vaughn Grissom, for whom the Bosox traded veteran southpaw Chris Sale in a one-to-one swap with the Braves.
The Sox didn’t want to lose Crochet, who had only two years of club control remaining. But many general managers would be reluctant to sign any pitcher for so many years, though the Yankees landed Max Fried from free agency for eight years and $218 million, both records for a left-handed pitcher.
Many of the new deals are complicated. Campbell’s contract calls for bonuses whenever he makes the All-Star team or finishes among the Top 10 in the MVP voting. If he actually wins the award, as former Bosox second baseman Dustin Pedroia did, he’ll earn a cool $2 million bonus. Potential total value of Campbell’s contract is $96 million over 10 years.
Fellow second baseman Ketel Marte is also smiling all the way to the bank. The Arizona Diamondbacks gave him a new deal worth $116.5 million over seven seasons. The contract contains deferrals – good news for the club – but runs through the player’s age-37 season, a potential red flag.
Marte’s deal also has escalators, a limited no-trade clause, and even an opt-out prior to the 2031 season (are we really thinking that far ahead already?). But he’s a valuable commodity after finishing third in the MVP voting and making the All-Star team for the second time.
Another noteworthy extension of recent vintage is Jackson Merrill’s nine-year, $135 million pact. The fleet San Diego outfielder, who’s the second-youngest player in the National League, will get bonuses for making 500 plate appearances in a season – up to $10 million if he does that from 2030-33.
His deal, like Campbell’s, also includes bonuses for top-10 MVP finishes and has an opt-out included too. If all escalators vest, its total value is $204 million over 10 years.
The urge to extend began in spring training, when Seattle gave catcher Cal Raleigh six years at $105 million and the Athletics invested seven years and $65.5 million in outfielder Lawrence Butler.
Although most players, including Guerrero, insist they won’t negotiate during the season, groundwork for most of the extensions was laid during the spring – with the clauses, bonuses, and opt-outs added later.
Looming over all the negotiations is a potential labor dispute – probably a lockout – when the current Basic Agreement between clubs and players expires on Dec. 1, 2026. The main issue dividing the two sides is expected to be runaway salaries that have inflated payrolls to record levels.
Go figure.
Here’s the Pitch weekend editor Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ is national baseball writer for forbes.com and author of 43 books, including Hank Aaron biographies 50 years apart. His email is ballauthor@gmail.com.
Timeless Trivia: New Team Israel Movie
Team Israel, which parlayed a World Baseball Classic performance into an Olympic berth, is now in the movie business . . .
Because no media were allowed in Tokyo’s Olympic Village, Team Israel players filmed their own experiences, which included displays of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism . . .
Their movie, Israel Swings For Gold, is a sequel to Heading Home: the Tale of Team Israel, which covered the team’s 2017 surprising success in the WBC . . .
Players on Team Israel hold dual citizenship in the United States and Israel, even though most of them had no strong ties to their Jewish heritage before journeying to Israel for the first time . . .
Israeli citizenship is needed for them to compete in international competition . . .
Shawn Green, who hit 328 home runs during 14 years in the majors, is among the U.S. All-Stars who played for Team Israel . . .
Current Yankees bench coach Brad Ausmus is a former manager of of the team, now managed by Nate Fish, former Savannah Bananas manager and minor-league coach . . .
He is the current CEO of Israel Baseball America.
Know Your Editors
HERE’S THE PITCH is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles the Monday issue with Dan Freedman [dfreedman@lionsgate.com] editing Tuesday and Jeff Kallman [easyace1955@outlook.com] at the helm Wednesday and Thursday. Original editor Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com], does the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Former editor Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] is now co-director [with Benjamin Chase and Jonathan Becker] of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, which publishes this newsletter and the annual ACTA book of the same name. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HtP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.
Another guy who would have been a rookie of the year was Dave "Boo" Ferris, who won 21 games with a 2.96 ERA in 1945. It wasn't just a wartime fluke, either as he won 25 in 1946 to help get the Red S to the World Series.