Baseball's 2023 All-Rookie Dream Team

Who were MLB's best rookies of the 2023 regular season? Gunnar Henderson and Corbin Carroll seem to be the ROY award front-runners, but who else deserves recognition at each position?

October 09, 2023

Issue #126

The 2023 MLB season provided a really solid crop of rookies, including some that came through on very high expectations entering the season—like Gunnar Henderson and Corbin Carroll, who are surely the frontrunners for the AL and NL ROY awards, respectively. But others came along and surprised us, including some after mid-season call-ups.

Some rookies flashed truly exciting moments, like Cincinnati’s Elly De La Cruz with his highlight reel plays several times a week. Others toiled in relative obscurity (except to their hometown fans), such as the De La Cruz’ Reds teammate Spencer Steer who had 37 doubles, 23 HR, and 15 SB, or the Rockies’ Nolan Jones who had 20 HR and 20 SB with a .297/.389/.542 slash line.

Here is my full roster of this year’s top rookies, with three at each position, plus two more “utility” guys, and lengthy lists of starting and relief pitchers.

I arranged guys mostly at their primary positions, with a few exceptions—and indicated in some cases the other positions where they spent significant time in 2023. If you prefer to see De La Cruz as a starter here, then you could move McLain over to 2B ahead of Gelof. Or if you think Jung deserves a starting spot, then Henderson could play at SS, with McLain again shifting over.

Here are some key offensive numbers for the position players (in order by going around the diamond):

  • 1B/3B/LF Spencer Steer (CIN) - 37 doubles, 23 HR, 15 SB, .271/.356/.464, 119 OPS+

  • 1B Triston Casas (BOS) - 24 HR, .263/.367/.490, 129 OPS+

  • 1B Ryan Noda (OAK) - 16 HR, .229/.364/.406, 121 OPS+

  • 2B Zack Gelof (OAK) - 14 HR, 14 SB, .267/.337/.504, 137 OPS+ (in only 69 games)

  • 2B Eduoard Julien (MIN) - 16 HR, .263/.381/.459, 130 OPS+

  • 2B/SS José Caballero (SEA) - 26 SB, .221/.343/.320, 90 OPS+

  • SS/2B Matt McLain (CIN) - 16 HR, 14 SB, .290/.357/.507, 129 OPS+ (in only 89 games)

  • SS Anthony Volpe (NYY) - 21 HR, 24 SB, .209/.283/.383, 81 OPS+

  • SS Ezequiel Tovar (COL) - 37 doubles, 15 HR, 11 SB, .253/.287/.408, 77 OPS+

  • 3B/SS Gunnar Henderson (BAL) - 29 doubles, 9 triples, 28 HR, 100 runs, 10 SB, .255/.325/.489, 125 OPS+

  • 3B Josh Jung (TEX) - 23 HR, .266/.315/.467, 109 OPS+

  • 3B Royce Lewis (MIN) - 15 HR, .309/.372/.548, 150 OPS+ (in only 58 games)

  • C Yainer Diaz (HOU) - 23 HR, .282/.308/.538, 128 OPS+

  • C Freddy Fermin (KCR) - 9 HR, .281/.321/.461, 112 OPS+ (in only 70 games)

  • C Francisco Álvarez (NYM) - 25 HR, .209/.284/.437, 95 OPS+

  • RF/LF/CF Corbin Carroll (ARI) - 30 doubles, 10 triples, 25 HR, 116 runs, 54 SB, .285/.362/.506, 134 OPS+

  • RF Jordan Walker (STL) - 16 HR, .276/.342/.445, 114 OPS+

  • RF/LF Dairon Blanco (KCR) - 24 SB, .258/.324/.452, 111 OPS+ (in only 69 games)

  • CF James Outman (LAD) - 23 HR, 16 SB, .248/.353/.437, 112 OPS+

  • CF Esteury Ruiz (OAK) - 67 SB, .254/.309/.345, 88 OPS+

  • CF Johan Rohas (PHI) - 14 SB, .302/.342/.430, 111 OPS+ (in only 59 games)

  • LF/RF Nolan Jones (COL) - 20 HR, 20 SB, .297/.389/.542, 138 OPS+

  • LF Masataka Yoshida (BOS) - 33 doubles, 15 HR, .289/.338/.445, 109 OPS+

  • LF/RF Matt Wallner (MIN) - 14 HR, .249/.370/.507, 139 OPS+ (in only 76 games)

  • SS/3B Elly De La Cruz (CIN) - 7 triples, 13 HR, 35 SB, .235/.300/.410, 89 OPS+

  • 2B/DH/3B/LF Davis Schneider (TOR) - 12 doubles, 8 HR, .276/.404/.603, 175 OPS+ (in only 35 games)

Beyond all of those rookies, a few others deserve honorable mention, including C Patrick Bailey (SFG), 3B Maikel Garcia (KCR), SS Zach Neto (LAA), C/OF Blake Sabol (SFG), 2B Brice Turang (MIL), and OF Joey Wiemer (MIL).

Here are some highlights from the pitchers I listed above:

  • SP Kodai Senga (NYM) - 2.98 ERA, 166.1 IP, 202 K, 142 ERA+

  • SP Tanner Bibee (CLE) - 2.98 ERA, 142.0 IP, 141 K, 140 ERA+

  • SP Eury Pérez (MIA) - 3.15 ERA, 91.1 IP, 108 K, 142 ERA+

  • SP Bobby Miller (LAD) - 3.76 ERA, 124.1 IP, 119 K, 116 ERA+

  • SP Gavin Williams (CLE) - 3.29 ERA, 82 IP, 81 K, 127 ERA+

  • SP Logan Allen (CLE) - 3.81 ERA, 125.1 IP, 119 K, 109 ERA+

  • SP Andrew Abbott (CIN) - 3.87 ERA, 109.1 IP, 120 K, 118 ERA+

  • SP Reese Olson (DET) - 3.99 ERA, 103.2 IP, 103 K, 111 ERA+

  • SP Bryce Miller (SEA) - 4.32 ERA, 131.1 IP, 119 K, 94 ERA+

  • SP Grayson Rodriguez (BAL) - 4.35 ERA, 122 IP, 129 K, 95 ERA+

  • SP Hunter Brown (HOU) - 5.09 ERA, 155.2 IP, 178 K, 83 ERA+

  • SP J.P. France (HOU) - 3.83 ERA, 136.1 IP, 101 K, 110 ERA+

  • RP Yennier Cano (BAL) - 2.11 ERA, 8 saves, 72.2 IP, 65 K, 196 ERA+

  • RP Tyler Holton (DET) - 2.11 ERA, 85.1 IP, 74 K, 210 ERA+

  • RP Tom Cosgrove (SDP) - 1.75 ERA, 51.1 IP, 44 K, 234 ERA+

  • RP Justin Topa (SEA) - 2.61 ERA, 69 IP, 61 K, 155 ERA+

  • RP Ian Hamilton (NYY) - 2.64 ERA, 58 IP, 69 K, 165 ERA+

  • RP Bowden Francis (TOR) - 1.73 ERA, 36.1 IP, 35 K, 247 ERA+

  • RP Abner Uribe (MIL) - 1.76 ERA, 30.2 IP, 39 K, 247 ERA+

  • RP Carmen Mlodzinski (PIT) - 2.25 ERA, 36 IP, 34 K, 199 ERA+

I feel pretty strongly that Kodai Senga was the best rookie starting pitcher this year, and that Yennier Cano was the best rookie reliever. But after that, you could debate how best to rank the other starters and relievers, or even who should have been listed at all. So again, a few others at least deserve honorable mention, including SP/RP Javier Assad (CHC), SP Bryan Woo (SEA), SP/RP Jhony Brito (NYY), SP Brandon Williamson (CIN), SP Jake Irvin (WSN), SP Taj Bradley (TBR), RP José Soriano (LAA), RP Gregory Santos (CHW), RP Tristan Beck (SFG), RP Brennan Bernardino (BOS), RP Fernando Cruz (CIN), SP/RP Xzavion Curry (CLE), RP José Hernández (PIT), RP Kevin Kelly (TBR), and RP Ryan Walker (SFG).

All data is from Baseball-Reference.com, and also their subscription service Stathead.com. If you are a big sports fan, be sure to check out the latest features at Stathead and the Sports Reference family of sites.

Did you know? I wrote a book with the same title as this Substack newsletter / blog: Now Taking the Field: Baseball’s All-Time Dream Teams for All 30 Franchises. It was published in early 2019, by ACTA Sports, the publisher of the annual Bill James Handbook and other popular titles. You can learn more about it at www.NowTakingTheField.com, or buy directly at Amazon and other booksellers.

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