2026 MLB Rookie of the Year: Tigers' Kevin McGonigle wins American League award

Kevin McGonigle of the Tigers was named the American League Rookie of the Year on Monday night as part of the BBWAA's awards week.

The honor for McGonigle completes what was a stellar year for the former first-round draft pick. He broke camp with the Tigers and was productive from the get-go. He ended up hitting .278/.376/.430 (126 OPS+) with 28 doubles, five triples, 18 home runs, 72 RBI, 97 runs, 12 steals and 7.1 WAR, the latter good enough for the AL lead among position players. He played great defense, ran the bases well and was an All-Star. He nearly walked (95) as much as he struck out (100), too. Not much more could've been asked of the Pennsylvania native who played most of the season at age 21, and he's a well-deserving Rookie of the Year.

He joins the following players to have won the award with the Tigers:

Michael Fulmer, 2016 Justin Verlander, 2006 Lou Whitaker, 1978 Mark Fidrych, 1976 Harvey Kuenn, 1953

Parker Messick of the Guardians finishes second after going 12-9 with a 2.56 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and 193 strikeouts in 186 ⅓ innings; he is also a top-three finalist for the Cy Young award. Red Sox starter Payton Tolle finishes third after going 9-6 with a 3.03 ERA (135 ERA+), 1.10 WHIP and 171 strikeouts in 148 ⅔ innings.

Over on the National League side, here are the finalists:

Carson Benge, Mets: The 2024 first-rounder made the team out of spring training and hit .282/.346/.430 with 20 home runs, 22 steals and 4.3 WAR.

Sal Stewart, Reds: Stewart only posted 1.8 WAR, but he had 32 home runs and 111 RBI, putting him in rarefied air for a rookie. He's one of just 15 rookies ever with at least 30 homers and 100 RBI.

JJ Wetherholt, Cardinals: Defensive metrics love Wetherholt and helped push him to 4.5 WAR in 139 games. He hit .242/.339/.365 with 17 homers, 14 steals and 89 runs.

The annual awards, which also include Manager of the Year, Reliever of the Year, Cy Young and MVP, are voted on by 30 members of the Baseball Writers Association of America (that's two per MLB city in each league). Votes were submitted before the beginning of the playoffs, meaning that only regular-season contributions are taken into account.