A Complete List of All Players to Win Rookie of the Year For Seattle Mariners
On Monday night, the American and National League Rookie of the Year winners will be announced.
In the American League, the award is between Colton Cowser (Baltimore Orioles), Luis Gil (New York Yankees) and Austin Wells (Yankees). In the National League, it's between Paul Skenes (Pittsburgh Pirates), Jackson Merrill (San Diego Padres) and Jackson Chourio (Milwaukee Brewers).
With that, no Seattle Mariners players will be taking home the honor this season, however, it's still fun to look back in history.
The Mariners have had five different players win the American League Rookie of the Year, including Alvin Davis (1984), Kaz Sasaki (2000), Ichiro Suzuki (2001), Kyle Lewis (2020) and Julio Rodriguez (2022).
The 64-year-old Davis spent nine years in the big leagues, including eight with the Mariners. He made the All-Star team in that rookie year, hitting 27 homers and bringing in 116 runs by the end of it. He also hit 29 homers and brought in 100 runs during the 1987 season. In total, he had 160 home runs and had 683 RBI. He received MVP votes in two separate seasons.
He was really the first Mariners' star player, and he was the first member of the M's Hall of Fame, earning induction in 1997. He was voted the team MVP three separate times.
As for Sasaki, he spent four years in the big leagues after coming over from Japan, all with the Mariners. In that 2000 season, he appeared in 63 games with a 3.16 ERA. He saved 37 games. Sasaki saved 45 games for the M's in 2001, the year in which the team won 116 games.
Another reason for the M's success in 2001? Another Japanese player, Ichiro: He won the American League batting title, hitting .350, and also took home the MVP. He led baseball in steals with 56 and registered 242 hits. He spent 14 years with the Mariners and is set to earn induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame next July (the official announcement of his election will come in January of 2025).
Lewis took advantage of the pandemic-shortened season in 2020 to win his award. He had 11 homers in 58 games that season while driving in 28. He looked like a franchise stalwart for the Mariners moving forward, but he played just 36 games for the M's in 2021 because of injury. He played only 18 in 2022 and was dealt to the Diamondbacks before the 2023 season.
Rodriguez burst onto the scene in 2022 as the M's broke the lengthy playoff drought. He hit 28 homers and stole 25 bases in that season, also earning an All-Star nod and finishing second in the home run derby. Three years into his career, Rodriguez is a lifetime .277 hitter with 80 homers and 86 steals.
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