It would be a surprise if the Pittsburgh Pirates didn’t have at least one player in the running for Rookie of the Year this season. Konnor Griffin is the consensus number one prospect in all of baseball, and has a real chance of starting the season as the Pittsburgh Pirates’ shortstop. Bubba Chandler is a consensus top 15 prospect, and will open the year in the Bucs’ rotation. That’s also not mentioning Hunter Barco, Jhostynxon Garcia, and Rafael Flores Jr., all of whom could play a key role with the Pirates in 2026. It would be far from the first time a team had multiple players be Rookie of the Year finalists, or multiple players receive votes for the award. So let’s go back in recent baseball history and look at notable times when a team had multiple Rookie of the Year candidates.
2025 Athletics
We don’t have to go back far to find the most recent team with at least two Rookie of the Year finalists. Nick Kurtz and Jacob Wilson finished first and second in AL voting last season. The 2024 first round pick, Kurtz batted .290/.383/.619 with 36 home runs over 489 plate appearances. He put up an astounding .419 wOBA, and 170 wRC+. He joins Aaron Judge and Albert Pujols as the only post-Integration rookies to hit 35+ home runs with an OPS of at least 1.000 in their first big league season.
Jacob Wilson, the son of former Pirates’ all-star shortstop Jack Wilson, hit .311/.355/.444 with a .348 wOBA, and 121 wRC+ over 523 plate appearances. Wilson is known for his excellent bat-to-ball skills. His whiff rate clocked in at a nanoscopic 9.6% rate, and he only struck out 7.5% of the time. Wilson also hit 13 home runs. He is the first rookie since the Pirates’ own Bryan Reynolds in 2019 to bat at least .310 over 500 or more plate appearances in their first season.
2022 Atlanta Braves
This might be the closest to what Konnor Griffin and Bubba Chandler could be in their rookie seasons. A power/speed threat that plays elite up-the-middle defense, and a dominant flamethrowing hurler. Atlanta Braves’ Michael Harris II took home the award after hitting .297/.339/.515 with a 137 wRC+. Harris went yard 19 times with 20 stolen bases over 441 plate appearances. Had he even had 475 trips to the plate, he would have been a 20/20 rookie. His defense in center field was excellent, with +7 defensive runs saved and +6 outs above average.
In second place was Spencer Strider. The right-hander started the year in the Braves’ bullpen, but worked his way into their rotation. Overall, he owned a 2.67 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, and 1.83 FIP over 131.2 innings of work. He nearly struck out 40% of opponents, with a 38.3% K%. Strider was also great at suppressing the long ball, with a HR/9 of only 0.48. Despite his fastball sitting upper-90s, he had a respectable 8.5% BB%. Harris II and Strider are the most recent NL duo to both finish among the top three in Rookie of the Year voting.
2018 New York Yankees
The 2018 Yankees did not have a player take home the ROTY award, but had both the runner up, and bronze medalist for the award. Former Pirate Miguel Andujar finished behind Shohei Ohtani for the award after he hit .297/.328/.527 with a .361 wOBA, and 129 wRC+. The third baseman hit 27 home runs, and racked up an impressive 47 doubles. Only five players have hit 45 or more two-baggers in their rookie year since integration, and Andujar is still the most recent.
His teammate and fellow infielder at the time, Gleyber Torres finished third in voting. Torres batted .271/.340/.480 over 484 plate appearances. He provided plenty of power for a middle infielder, with 24 bombs and a .209 isolated slugging percentage. He struck out 25.2% of the time, but had a solid 8.7% walk rate.
2016 Los Angeles Dodgers
Hype for Konnor Griffin is making him sound like an MVP candidate. However, ten years ago, a superstar rookie shortstop had a borderline MVP season. In 2016, LA Dodgers’ shortstop Corey Seager hit .308/.365/.512 with a .372 wOBA, and 136 wRC+. Seager’s 26 home runs and .204 ISO were an impressive mark for a rookie shortstop. He, along with Paul DeJong a year later, Trevor Story also in 2016, and Nomar Garciaparra are the only rookie shortstops to have at least 25 home runs and a .200+ ISO. That earned Seager third place honors in NL MVP voting.
However, Seager wasn’t alone in Rookie of the Year finalist voting. Japan signee Kenta Maeda finished in third place. Maeda finished off his 2016 campaign with a solid 3.48 ERA, 3.56 FIP, and 1.14 WHIP. The right-hander struck out a quarter of opponents with a strong 7% walk rate. In total, Maeda pitched 175.2 innings over 32 starts. There probably wouldn’t be many complaints if Griffin hit like Seager, and Chandler pitched like Maeda did in 2016.
2011 Atlanta Braves
The Braves appear on this list for a second time, this time in 2011. Both players also went on to have historic careers, which is another rarity among Rookie of the Year finalists from the same team. Craig Kimbrel took home the ROTY award after he put up a 2.10 ERA, 1.52 FIP, and 1.04 WHIP over 77 innings. Kimbrel struck out an impressive 41.5% of opponents, while recording a league-leading 47 games. He is still the only rookie to save 45 or more games. He even received Cy Young votes, finishing ahead of Madison Bumgarner, and former Pirates right-hander Ryan Vogelsong.
Freddie Freeman had a fine rookie season of his own. Freeman slashed .282/.346/.448 with a 120 wRC+ over 635 plate appearances. The then-rookie first baseman went yard 21 times, with a modest 8.3% walk rate. However, his 22.3% K% was below average for the time. He is still the third most-recent rookie 1B to bat at least .280 with 20+ home runs, behind the aforementioned Nick Kurtz last year, and Jose Abreu in 2014. Former Pirates pitcher Vance Worley finished in third place in voting in 2011.
2006 Florida Marlins
You can’t talk about dominant rookie classes without mentioning the 2006 Florida Marlins. Hanley Ramirez (a player Griffin was recently compared to by FanGraphs) won the ROTY award after he hit .292/.353/.480 with 17 home runs, putting up an overall 116 wRC+. Hanley also stole 51 bases. He is one of just four rookies to swipe 50+ bases and put up an OPS of at least .800. It wouldn’t be until Corbin Carroll in 2023 another rookie would accomplish this feat.
While Ramirez finished first in voting, second baseman Dan Uggla finished in third place. Uggla became one of baseball’s best middle infield sluggers after he hit .282/.339/.480 with 27 home runs over 683 plate appearances. Overall, Uggla had a 110 wRC+. He still has the most home runs by a rookie second baseman.
However, that’s not where this rookie class ends. Josh Johnson finished fourth in voting 3.10 ERA in 157 innings. He didn’t even have the best ERA among Marlins rookies in 2006, as Anibal Sanchez put up a 2.83 mark over 114.1 IP. A third Marlins starter in Scott Olsen also received a vote after he pitched 180.2 IP with a respectable 4.04 ERA. Neither Ramirez nor Uggla led Marlins rookies in OPS. That would be Josh Willingham, who clocked at .852, and slugged 26 home runs. He finished ninth in voting.
