Having already revisited the careers of Rookie of the Year winners from 2000-09 (American League, National League), let’s go back a decade to the 1990s. We’ll open with the NL’s 10 winners…
1990 – David Justice, OF, Braves:
- This marked the beginning of a decorated career for Justice, who slashed .282/.373/.535 with 28 home runs in 504 plate appearances as a rookie. The Braves were only a 65-win team that season, but thanks in part to Justice, they became a powerhouse after that. The club made three World Series appearance, winning one Fall Classic (in 1995), with Justice on its roster. But the Braves traded Justice and Marquis Grissom to the team they knocked off, the Indians, prior to the ’97 campaign for Kenny Lofton and Alan Embree. Justice continued to succeed as an Indian, though they dealt him to the Yankees during the 2000 season. He went on to win his second title then. Although Justice’s numbers dipped as a Yankee and Athletic from 2001-02, he finished his career as a .279/.378/.500 hitter with 305 homers, 40.4 fWAR and three All-Star bids.
1991 – Jeff Bagwell, 1B, Astros:
- Acquired from Boston a year earlier in a trade the Red Sox would still like back, Bagwell got off to a terrific start – he hit .294/.387/437 with 4.3 fWAR as a rookie – and only improved from there. He’s now an Astros legend, a Baseball Hall of Famer and someone who put up a .297/.408/.540 line with 449 homers, 202 steals, 80.2 fWAR, four All-Star nods and an MVP through 2005.
1992 – Eric Karros, 1B, Dodgers:
- Compared to the first couple players on this list, Karros had a modest impact in his first year, when he batted .257/.304/.426 with 20 homers and 1.0 fWAR. But Karros still enjoyed a better career than most, as he swatted 284 HRs and hit .266/.325/.454 with 17.8 fWAR as a Dodger, Cub and Athletic through 2004.
1993 – Mike Piazza, C, Dodgers:
- The second straight Dodger to win and the second eventual Hall of Famer on this list, Piazza made an incredible impact from the get-go. He slashed .318/.370/.561 with 35 dingers and 7.4 fWAR in Year 1 – the first of 12 All-Star seasons. Also a former Marlin, Met (they retired his No. 31), Athletic and Padre, Piazza hung it up in 2007 as a .308/.377/.545 batter who smacked 427 homers and accounted for 63.7 fWAR.
1994 – Raul Mondesi, OF, Dodgers:
- Make that three consecutive Dodgers. Mondesi hit .306/.333/.516 with 16 homers and 11 steals in his first year, which proved to be the first of several above-average offensive efforts for him. Overall, he was a two-time 30/30 man who racked up 271 homers, 229 steals, recorded a .273/.331/.485 line, and collected 26.5 fWAR as a Dodger, Blue Jay, Yankee, Diamondback, Pirate, Angel and Brave from 1993-2004. Mondesi later became the mayor of San Cristobal, Dominican Republic, but that ended with a prison sentence for corruption. In better news, his son Adalberto Mondesi looks as if he could be a long-term cornerstone for the Royals.
1995 – Hideo Nomo, SP, Dodgers:
- Hey, another Dodger, and the first NL pitcher of the decade to win the award. Nomo, a Japanese import who was the first player born there to play in the majors since 1965, was a sensation early in his MLB career. He spun 191 1/3 innings of 2.54 ERA ball with over 11 strikeouts per nine as a rookie. That proved to be Nomo’s best season, but he did put together a few more quality ones through 2008, and he tossed two no-hitters along the way. The former Dodger, Met, Brewer, Tiger, Red Sox, Ray and Royal logged a 4.24 ERA with 8.73 K/9 and 4.13 BB/9 in 1,976 1/3 innings in the bigs.
1996 – Todd Hollandsworth, OF, Dodgers:
- In order to win this award, it was apparently a requirement to play for the Dodgers. Hollandsworth hit .291/.348/.437 with 12 homers and 21 steals in his debut season, though his impact in the league wasn’t that great otherwise. He totaled 5.2 fWAR (1.2 as a rookie) with a handful of teams from 1995-2006.
1997 – Scott Rolen, 3B, Phillies:
- Rolen put an end to the Dodgers’ ROY reign Hall of Famer with a stellar first season, in which he was a .283/.377/.469 hitter with 21 homers and 4.3 fWAR. Rolen was largely an outstanding offensive player with the Phils, Cardinals, Blue Jays and Reds through 2012 – he batted a lifetime .281/.364/.490 with 316 HRs and 118 steals – and also a defensive maven. He wound up an eight-time Gold Glover and a seven-time All-Star who accrued 69.9 fWAR. Hall of Famer? He has a legit case.
1998 – Kerry Wood, SP, Cubs:
- Wood’s shining moment came in his fifth-ever start, May 6, 1998, when he struck out 20 Astros in a complete game shutout. Those 20 punchouts helped Wood to a whopping 12.58 K/9 that year, during which he registered a 3.40 ERA over 166 2/3 innings. But Wood missed the next season because of Tommy John surgery, and injuries regularly slowed him down throughout a career that ran through 2012 with the Cubs, Yankees and Indians. While Wood was a full-time starter in his first six seasons, he shifted to a relief role in 2005. He left the game with a 3.67 ERA, 10.32 K/9 and 23.9 fWAR across 1,380 frames. Not the Hall of Fame career it perhaps could have been had Wood stayed healthy, but still an impressive one.
1999 – Scott Williamson, RP, Reds:
- Williamson was a relief workhorse who peaked in his first season, when he fired 93 1/3 innings of 2.41 ERA pitching with 10.32 K/9 and 19 saves. Like Wood, however, injuries had a negative effect on his career. Williamson pitched for several other teams through 2007, and despite walking five batters per nine, he still put up a highly respectable 3.36 ERA with 10.45 K/9 in 439 1/3 lifetime innings.
1995, one of the best rookie of the races ever: Nomo and Chipper
Indeed. Although, I’d argue that they got it wrong.
No way. Chipper had the better career but Nomo clearly had the better year
Races like that just tell me that they need a separate award for hitters and pitchers. The case was the same in 1998 in the race between Kerry Wood and Todd Helton. I just don’t see any reason why there shouldn’t be two winners per league.
This series has told me that ROY winners in baseball are more indicative of solid careers than future superstardom.
You mean you can’t tell by a player’s first year in the majors whether they will be a superstar or not? I’ve gotta revise my whole approach to this now.
Man I loved watching Kerry Wood pitch. That Wood/Prior combo was something.
Unfortunately, especially in Prior’s case, it was a very short something.
Dusty freaking Baker
The Marcus Giles thing was probably more effective in derailing Prior’s career.
Should Scott Rolen be in the Hall Of Fame?
Personally, I think so. He’s top 100 in all time bWAR, has a higher defensive WAR than Mike Schmidt, and Johnny Bench, has the 10th highest DRS, and 2nd most among all 3B’s, and he wasn’t all that bad of a batter either. Career .281/.364/.490 line, 316 home runs, 122 OPS+/wRC+.
Yes absolutely
I absolutely agree.
As a Cubs fan, that was on the losing end of games against him many times, he is unquestionably a Hall of Famer in my eyes.
The Ped class.
It’s amazing how good picks LA had and produced nothing in the playoffs
Hey that seems really familiar hmm
funny thing with rolen is, almost didn’t win the award.
was brought up in 96, was at 129 at bats when he got hit on the wrist, breaking it.
had it been ruled a swing instead of a hit by pitch, possible he uses up his rookie status (you need 130 at bats to lose it, he leaves in the middle of the at bat due to injury, new batter finishes for him. if that guy strikes out, counts against rolen per the rules, would be at bat number 130, rookie status gone).
Interesting!
Actually, you lose it at 131. Case in point, after 2018, Tyler O’Neill had 130 AB and was still a minor leaguer heading into 2019. Until his first AB anyway lol.
Bagwell’s 1994 season is one of the greatest ever.
Too bad the strike happened.
Even then it has to be Top 20 All Time even if it was cut short.
Even crazier was he did this while playing in the Astrodome.
If that was Minute Maid Park those numbers would have been even higher.
yes, but remember, without the strike, he doesn’t win the mvp award.
he had just broken his wrist a few days before, was gonna be out for weeks.
between bonds and williams chasing maris, never mind how well maddux was doing, bagwell was probably finishing 4th at a minimum without the strike
Yeah, Matt Williams was going to hit at least 50 dongs that year, maybe 55 when all was said and done. He would have gotten the MVP for sure had he done it. I want to say the last NL player to hit 50 was George Foster in 1977.
Lest ye both forget, Tony Gwynn, was going to be the first person to hit .400 since 1941. I think that due to the high character of Gwynn, plus how long it had been since someone had done it (53 for .400 and only 33 for hitting 61 bombs) that Gwynn would have gotten the MVP then.
The ROY Award is interesting because you can only win it once and it’s a coin toss whether or not it’s an indicator of future success.
Seems like every one of these guys passed through NY as theybentered the twilight of their career.
I would have chosen Chipper Jones in ’95, Jason Kendall in ’96, and Preston Wilson in ’99.
Overall though, a couple of Hall of Famers a few decent careers and one of the biggest ego’s of his time (Justice) who, if money ball is correct, Billy still had to knock down a peg even as a broken down older player.
I’d have an ego too. By 2002, he’d been on a team that won the Pennant in 7 of his 12 years in baseball, with 2 World Series rings one in each league (95 and 2000), only missed the playoffs twice( 90 and 94) with one of those was because of the strike, he had played in the LCS of whatever league he was in from 1991-2001 missing it only in 94 and 99, and was banging Halle Berry…..
Divorced Halle Berry because he “didn’t have time for her”. I don’t know man, I would have found a way to make time
Injuries and poor post season performance will keep Rosen out. He’s the hall of very good.
Rolen…..stupid iPad.
Although I don’t think Rosen is getting in either