The three have turned heads around the league and have helped lead the Reds to a 29-33 record and five games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central standings.
The National League Rookies of the Year race is heating up, and all three Reds rookies have a chance to win this award. Let’s see how De La Cruz, Steer, and McLain stack up against the rest of the NL Rookie of the Year field.
According to DraftKings, these are the top 10 favorites to win the National League Rookie of the Year Award.
|
Player |
Team |
Odds |
|---|---|---|
|
Corbin Carroll |
Arizona Diamondbacks |
-135 |
|
Elly De La Cruz |
Cincinnati Reds |
+325 |
|
Francisco Alvarez |
New York Mets |
+800 |
|
James Outman |
Los Angeles Dodgers |
+1400 |
|
Kodai Senga |
New York Mets |
+3000 |
|
Brett Baty |
New York Mets |
+3500 |
|
Spencer Steer |
Cincinnati Reds |
+4000 |
|
Eury Perez |
Miami Marlins |
+4000 |
|
Matt McLain |
Cincinnati Reds |
+5000 |
|
Jordan Walker |
St. Louis Cardinals |
+5000 |
De La Cruz has catapulted into the No. 2 favorite to win after his Tuesday call-up to the show. The 21-year-old has Reds fans excited–he has four hits and a pair of RBI but also six strikeouts through his first eleven at-bats.
The Reds’ top prospect smashed a 112 mph double for his first big league hit and followed that up with this smash for his first home run on Wednesday night.
Elly De La Cruz with the fastest home-to-third time in the Majors this season (2nd-fastest in 4 seasons!) with his first big league triple!
30.9 ft/sec
10.83 sec home-to-third pic.twitter.com/Gx9V7V9et0— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) June 8, 2023
Steer has fallen to +4000, but the rookie first-baseman has been very good for Cincinnati this season. He leads the Reds in multiple offensive categories including batting average, home runs, and On Base Percentage (OBP), and saw his three-game hitting streak snapped by Clayton Kershaw and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
McLain is the final Reds’ rookie seeing some action and the shortstop is batting .354 with two bombs and 10 RBI. McLain has committed just one error in 67 total chances and has a three-game hitting streak on the line entering Friday’s series with St. Louis Cardinals.
Carroll Still the Frontrunner
Corbin Carroll is the frontrunner and rightly so. The Diamondbacks outfielder tops all National League rookies in home runs and Wins Above Replacement (WAR) while slugging .520 for the first-place Diamondbacks.
He’s done more to help his team win baseball games than any other rookie in the National League, and it’s hard at this point to see anything changing this.
The Reds rookies have been fantastic. Steer has been with the team since Opening Day and is second on the club in WAR behind Reds OF TJ Friedl.
McLain has played just 21 games but has been exceptional with the bat and the leather. De La Cruz has been electric, but he’s only had seven at-bats and three of those were strikeouts.
Finally, there are still over 100 games in the season, and we’ve just seen how quickly the oddsmakers National League Rookie of the Year board can change. Outman was the betting favorite on May 21 but has fallen to +4000.
These drastic line moves happen often and sometimes without any warning. Our best advice? Track the players on the boards that you think might win and when you think the risk is worth it, then head over to DraftKings and make your bet.
