A few weeks ago, I was chatting with a good friend, who is a big fan of the Seattle Mariners. We talked about Julio Rodriguez’s performance after winning the 2022 AL Rookie of the Year award. After the talk, I was thinking about a question.
In the Mariners franchise history, there are several players who won the AL Rookie of the Year award. After winning the award, did they play well in the sophomore year? Did some of them face the sophomore slump?
To understand a little more, I went to check the stats of those Mariners players who used to be the winner of the AL Rookie of the Year award.
In the Mariners franchise history, there are 5 players who won the AL Rookie of the Year award. They are Alvin Davis (1984), Kazuhiro Sasaki (2000), Ichiro Suzuki (2001), Kyle Lewis (2020) and Julio Rodriguez (2022).
First, let’s start with Alvin Davis. Davis made his MLB debut in 1984. He played 152 games for the Mariners in his rookie season, hitting .284/.391/.497 with 27 home runs and 116 RBI. He finished his rookie season with an OPS over .800 and won the Rookie of the Year award. In 1985, he played 155 games in his second season, slashing .287/.381/.441 with 18 home runs and 78 RBI. His performance wasn’t bad in the sophomore year, but as we can see, he didn’t crush as many home runs as he did in 1984. He didn’t reach 100 RBI, either.
In December 1999, the Mariners signed Kazuhiro Sasaki. In his first season in the MLB, he made 63 relief appearances, posting a 3.16 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP. Sasaki recorded 37 saves and opponents only batted .184 against him. The next season, he made 69 relief appearances and owned a 3.24 ERA and a 0.89 WHIP over 66.2 innings. Opponents’ BA against him was, again, below .200.
In 2001, it was the beginning of Ichiro’s legendary career in the majors. He had a tremendous rookie season, hitting .350/.381/.457 with 8 home runs and 69 RBI. Additionally, he collected 242 hits and had 56 steals. He not only won the AL Rookie of the Year award but also was named the 2001 AL MVP. The next season, he also played 157 games for the Mariners, hitting .321/.388/.425 with 8 home runs and 51 RBI. In 2002, he collected 200+ hits again and had 30+ swipes.
The 2020 season was a shortened one, but it was a good season for Kyle Lewis. Lewis made his MLB debut in 2019, hitting .268/.293/.592 with 6 home runs and 13 RBI over 18 games. In 2020, he played 58 games for the Mariners, slashing .262/.364/.437 with 11 home runs and 28 RBI. Nonetheless, injuries limited Kyle Lewis’ contribution in 2021 and he only played 36 games for Mariners.
Last year, Julio Rodriguez made his MLB debut. In total, he played 132 games in 2022, slashing .284/.345/.509 with 28 home runs and 75 RBI. Moreover, he stole 25 bases. Without doubt, he won the AL Rookie of the Year award. In 2023, Julio Rodriguez is now hitting .280/.338/.487 with 27 home runs and 93 RBI thus far. The numbers look good. However, he didn’t have a good start this season, from March to June, his OPS was below .800.
Looking at those Mariners who used to win the AL Rookie of the Year award, only Kyle Lewis couldn’t contribute much to the Mariners in the sophomore season and the main reason was the injuries. This year, Julio Rodriguez was off to a slow start, but he gradually heats up in the summer. Now, he might help the Mariners clinch a spot in the postseason, again?
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