Kyle Lewis of the Seattle Mariners won the 2020 AL Rookie of the Year. The Mariners have several prospects on their way soon. Can the Mariners win back to back or even three in a row?
One of the biggest highlights of 2020 for the Seattle Mariners was Kyle Lewis winning the Jackie Robinson AL Rookie of the Year by a landslide. Lewis had an amazing start to the 2020 season and tapered off in the second half but he did enough to beat out the competition. The 2016 first-round pick showed his all-around talent during the regular season. Lewis hit 11 home runs, stole five bases, .801 OPS, 1.4 WAR, and multiple highlight-reel defensive plays.
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Kyle Lewis is looking like the player we hoped for and proved that he is the future of the Mariners. As great as it is to celebrate Kyle Lewis’ 2020 season and his bright future, there are many other players in the Seattle Mariners farm system to look forward to. The Mariners currently have two players in the Top 20 MLB prospects list. They also have six prospects in the Top 100.
Basically what I am trying to say is the Seattle Mariners have a legitimate chance to repeat for the AL Rookie of the Year Award in 2021, and possibly even 2022. You would be surprised how often back to back Rookies of the Year have occurred in the past. It is more than you would expect. There have been nine times where a team has won back to back Rookie of the Year Awards, the most recent being 2016 and 2017 when Corey Seager and Cody Bellinger won.
Consecutive Rookie of the Year Awards has also happened in Seattle Mariners history. Kazuhiro Sasaki and Ichiro Suzuki won the award in 2000 and 2001. Three consecutive ROY’s by a team has been done once, by the Oakland Athletics starting in 1986 with Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, and Walt Weiss. And then the Los Angeles Dodgers have won four consecutive times, and also five consecutive times. The Sutcliff and Valenzuela era, and the Piazza, Mondesi, Nomo era.
Winning consecutive Rookie of the Year Awards has become harder and harder, but the Seattle Mariners have a legitimate chance. Let’s predict who could be a ROY candidate for the next couple of years.