Remarkable! Rookies

Congratulations to this season’s Rookie of the Year award winners Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger. Here are some notes depicting where these incredible rookies ranked among the rest of the league.

Aaron Judge

Judge broke a myriad of records this season including the rookie home run record previously held by Mark McGwire. He blasted 52 home runs, second in the Majors to Giancarlo Stanton, but his accolades do not end with the long ball.

Unlike Bellinger, Judge did the majority of his damage on the fastball. He led the majors with a .745 slugging percentage on fastballs this season (League Avg: .465).

Much of the damage done from Judge this season came on pitches in the middle of the strike zone and higher:

While the power is attractive, Judge was also impressive with his eye. He walked in 18.7 percent of PAs this season, the second highest rate in MLB. If the pitcher fell behind in the count against Judge, it could actually be wiser to walk him. Judge slugged 1.259 (107 bases in 85 ABs) when the pitcher was behind this season, best in MLB (League Avg: .631).

Cody Bellinger

Even though Bellinger did not see his first big league action until April 25, he took MLB by storm and hit 39 home runs, second best in the National League. He did plenty of damage to non-fastballs during his rookie campaign. In fact, Bellinger slugged .615 on non-fastballs this season, second among full-time hitters (League Avg: .375).

Another area where Bellinger excelled was when the pitcher fell behind in the count. Bellinger slugged .980 (96 total bases in 98 ABs) when the pitcher was behind this season, fifth best among full-time hitters (League Avg: .631).

Bellinger was honored as NL Rookie of the Month in May and June. During that period, he hit 22 home runs, seven more than the next NL batter. Bellinger also put together the eighth best OPS (.992) in the NL during that stretch.

Left-handed batters usually struggle against their left-handed counterparts on the mound, but Bellinger excelled in multiple categories: