Seattle Mariners outfielder Kyle Lewis was named the 2020 American League Rookie of the Year on Monday night. He beat out White Sox outfielder Luis Robert and Astros righty Cristian Javier for the award. Lewis received all of the 30 first-place votes.
Lewis, 25, made his MLB debut in Sept. 2019 and was on Seattle's big-league roster the entire 2020 season. He authored a .262/.364/.437 batting line with 11 home runs in 58 games, and led all rookie position players with 1.7 WAR. The Mariners selected Lewis with the No. 11 pick in the 2016 draft.
Through August, Robert was the favorite for the Rookie of the Year award, though an ugly September slump dragged his overall batting line down to .233/.302/.436. Robert, 23, slugged 11 home runs and stole nine bases. The 23-year-old Javier had a 3.48 ERA with 54 strikeouts in 54 1/3 innings this year.
Brewers reliever Devin Williams won Rookie of the Year honors in the National League.
Lewis is the fourth Mariner to be named Rookie of the Year, joining Ichiro Suzuki (2001), Kazuhiro Sasaki (2000), and Alvin Davis (1984). He is the fourth straight position player to win the AL award and the eighth in the last nine years. Michael Fulmer in 2016 is the only exception, though Shohei Ohtani won as a two-year player in 2018.
As a reminder, voting for all major awards takes places after the regular season and before the postseason. These are regular season awards only. The full 2020 AL Rookie of the Year voting results can be seen at the Baseball Writers' Association of America's website.
The Rookie of the Year awards were the first of the major MLB awards to be handed out this week. Keep up with all the awards finalists and the schedule here.
