Since 1947, when the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) first began voting for an annual Rookie of the Year in each league, there have been 18 Dodgers to win the prestigious award – certainly none more significant than the inaugural winner Jackie Robinson. But what many baseball fans may not know is that the Dodgers 18 ROY winners are twice as many as the next closest MLB team:

• Dodgers – 18
• Yankees – 9
• Athletics – 8
• Braves – 8
• Twins/Senators – 7
• Reds – 7
• Orioles – 6
• Red Sox – 6
• White Sox – 6
• Cubs – 6
• Giants – 6
• Cardinals – 6
• Angels – 1

Here are the Dodgers 18 Rookie of the Year winners:

1. 1947: Jackie Robinson
2. 1949: Don Newcombe
3. 1952: Joe Black
4. 1953: Jim Gilliam
5. 1960: Frank Howard
6. 1965: Jim Lefebvre
7. 1969: Ted Sizemore
8. 1979: Rick Sutcliffe
9. 1980: Steve Howe
10. 1981: Fernando Valenzuela
11. 1982: Steve Sax
12. 1992: Eric Karros
13. 1993: Mike Piazza
14. 1994: Raul Mondesi
15. 1995: Hideo Nomo
16. 1996: Todd Hollandsworth
17. 2016: Corey Seager
18. 2017: Cody Bellinger

But there may soon be a 19th Dodger added to this prestigious list that includes two Hall of Famers, one should-be Hall of Famer, and a couple of potential future Hall of Famers – just turned 23-year-old (on May 15) Dodgers outfielder Alex Verdugo who, on Tuesday night against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, recorded his third outfield assist of 2019 in the Dodgers 7-3 win over the (now) 27-18 AL East second place Rays.

What makes Verdugo’s third outfield assist of the season on Tuesday night all the more significant is that he has now made one from each outfield position, this one from center field to nail Rays pinch-hitter Kevin Kiermaier at third base. Kiermaier unwisely tried to stretch a leadoff double into a triple in the bottom of the eighth inning, thus violating one of baseball’s oldest and most basic rules: ‘Never make the first or third out of an inning at third base’ – in this case with his team down by three runs at the time.

But in addition to his Gold Glove-caliber defense and ridiculously strong (and accurate) throwing arm, what really puts Verdugo at the head of the rookie class of 2019 is what he has done – and continues to do – at the plate through the first one-third of the 2019 season.

In his 140 plate appearances thus far this season, the extremely popular Tucson, AZ native and Dodgers second-round draft pick in 2014 out of Sahuaro High School is 41-for-129 (.318) with 10 doubles, two triples, four home runs, with 23 runs batted in. He currently has a very good .364 on-base percentage and a .519 slugging percentage for an impressive .884 OPS.

Although there are still 113 games yet to be played in the 2019 regular season, it is difficult – if not impossible – not to include Alex Verdugo among the front-runners to become the 2019 National League – and Dodgers 19th – Rookie of the Year.

Play Ball!

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