AL Rookie of the Year race: How Grayson Rodriguez promotion impacts odds, favorites

The Grayson Rodriguez era is officially here.

After a lat strain robbed him of his chance to make his Major League debut in 2022, Rodriguez, the No. 7 prospect in baseball per MLB.com, will make his Major League debut today against Jacob deGrom and the Texas Rangers. With that in mind, we're taking a look at the American League Rookie of the Year Odds, and how Rodriguez's promotion could impact the odds throughout the season. Odds are via DraftKings Sportsbook.

AL Rookie of the Year odds

Gunnar Henderson +300
Anthony Volpe +400
Masataka Yoshida +450
Triston Casas +800
Grayson Rodriguez +1300

As of now, Rodriguez has the fifth-best odds, but those could quickly change based off how his first start goes. While Rodriguez will get a late start to the season, it shouldn't impact him much in the race, as he theoretically only missed one Major league start which won't end up making a difference in the end.

The four players ahead of Rodriguez have all had various levels of success through the first week of the season, but no one's made an immediate statement. Henderson's tied for the MLB lead in walks (six) but is only hitting .167; Volpe's not doing much better in the box (.214 average), but became the fifth player since 1901 to steal a base in each of their first three games, while Casas and Yoshida have both hit home runs but each are batting less than .250.

There's also a precedent for late arrivals to win Rookie of the Year, as Michael Harris II won last year's NL Rookie of the Year Award despite not making his Major League debut until May. Additionally, then-Tigers pitcher Michael Fulmer won the AL ROY in 2016 despite spending the first month of the season in the minors.

  
Read Full Article