New York Mets have a pair of early Rookie of the Year candidates

New York Mets rookies David Peterson and Andres Gimenez have become early Rookie of the Year candidates.

I’m not too sure people were shocked when Pete Alonso won the 2019 National League Rookie of the Year Award. When the season began, he was coming off of an epic season in the minor leagues for the New York Mets. Home run power is a big positive in any player’s chase to winning Rookie of the Year honors. The Polar Bear had no problem notching that victory with weeks left in the season.

In 2020, the Mets began the year without any obvious candidate. However, due to several circumstances, they now have two viable early candidates.

The first is David Peterson. The rookie starting pitcher got his chance to open the year with the Mets due to an injury to Marcus Stroman. He has made the most of it with a pair of victories in his first three starts. His 3.78 ERA is favorable and has room to drop.

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I’m not sure Peterson will have the kind of year Jacob deGrom did in 2014 when he won the award. It’s hard to match that performance or many others by Mets pitchers who won the award.

Peterson should still get plenty of innings this year. He has been the club’s second-best starting pitcher. Barring some major change in the results on the field, he’s an early candidate to help the Mets retain NL ROY honors.

Fighting against Peterson is another rookie I didn’t think we’d see much of this year, infielder Andres Gimenez. The speedy shortstop is getting starts at second base with Robinson Cano out. He’s showing a tendency to hit for average and steal a base as needed.

Gimenez has actually been better than advertised. Over the past two years, he has seemed to drop down the franchise’s top prospect list. Others have moved ahead of him, namely fellow shortstop Ronny Mauricio.

This year, Gimenez had the advantage over Mauricio. He was closer to major league ready. Rather than give those innings and at-bats to Luis Guillorme, the Met shave put faith in Gimenez. He has made the most of those chances and looks like he might have a future with the club.

The Mets have had two straight years from notable rookie position players. Before Alonso’s 2019 performance, we get to see two months of Jeff McNeil.

On the mound, we have to go back a little further to find a notable rookie campaign. Steven Matz’s 2016 season was technically his rookie year even though he had already debuted in 2015. Peterson is looking to end that drought.

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Gimenez probably has a bigger challenge in winning the Rookie of the Year. When Cano returns, he’ll see his playing time diminish. Peterson, on the other hand, may have already won a permanent spot in the rotation.