The second month of the 2023 MLB season is already in full effect, which means there is already a ranking for the awards granted after this season, specifically Rookie of the Year. 

Two key candidates to look at closely this season are Los Angeles Dodgers center field James Outman and Arizona Diamondbacks left-fielder Corbin Carroll who is slowly but definitely surely making his own into the Rookie of the Year conservations for the National League. 

Corbin Carroll was acknowledged as one of the top prospects in baseball during 2022 and the Diamondbacks front office decided in a brief debut to sign him after his MLB debut at the end of August 2022. Only having about 104 at-bats during last year’s season left him to enter this year as one of the favorites for the National League Rookie of the Year race. According to Baseball Reference, Carroll’s current batting average is .301. 

James Outman was always known to be a top prospect from the Los Angeles Dodgers but he was not considered the “one” Miguel Vargas was. Outman has stolen early headlines at the beginning of the season since taking over the position of center fielder after Cody Bellinger was non-tendered during the offseason. According to Baseball Reference, his current batting average is .234. Even though Outman has a pretty unsustainable strikeout rate of 33% which raises some questions it still doesn’t lower his chances of receiving the award. 

Other players to watch: 

• OF Masataka Yoshida, Boston Red Sox

• 1B Ryan Noda, Oakland Athletics 

• RHP Taj Bradley, Tampa Bay Rays

• OF Esteury Ruiz, Oakland Athletics 

• SS Anthony Volpe, New York Yankees

• RHP Yennier Cano, Baltimore Orioles

• 3B Josh Jung, Texas Rangers

Who do you have your hopes on for winning Rookie of the Year?