Who are the Dark Horse Award Winners for the 2024 Season?

With the 2024 season coming to a close and October postseason baseball drawing ever closer, our collective eyes as fans slowly gander toward the award races. The main favorites are names that you see on your Sportscenter highlights every morning: Judge, Ohtani, Soto, Sale, Skubal, Lindor, and so on and so forth. More likely than not, you will see some of those favorites taking home their respective awards. However, I am taking a moment here to highlight the unsung seasons some players (and managers) have put together this season. These are campaigns that will likely not be enough to overtake the top names in consideration, but a fun dark horse in the running to shine some light on their success. While I do not have a Katy Perry or Juicy J to offer you, here are the dark horse candidates for each of the main MLB awards in 2024.

AL MVP: Brent Rooker, Oakland Athletics Designated Hitter

Terry Brent Rooker Jr is having a season that I believe could be criminally underrated for years to come. Currently rocking a .301/.372/.586 slash line with 35 HRs and 99 RBIs, Rooker has been the heart and soul of the Athletics lineup through another tough season in Oakland. Rooker has himself among some household names in terms of his production this season. Rooker is 7th in the league in HRs, 6th in RBIs, 5th in SLG%, 6th in OPS, and 5th in OPS+. The only names consistently above Rooker in production are Judge, Soto, Ohtani, Alvarez, and Witt Jr; consistent contenders for MVPs on their respective teams year-in and year-out. From there, take into account that this Oakland offense has only picked up its pace in July. From April through June, the team collectively hit a measly .221, with only 97 HRs and 293 RBIs. Once July began, the A’s posted a season high .267 average in the month, along with a collective 45 HRs and 143 RBIs. That’s approximately 50% worth of their production of the past three months, all packed into one. And who else was there to lead the way but Rooker, who had a monster July. Rooker hit .391 with 11 HRs and 30 RBIs, accounting for 24% of Oakland’s HRs for the month alone. One can only imagine how much damage Rooker could be doing on a somewhat competitive team, and if being hidden in Oakland is costing him some low ballot MVP votes. Other teams had definitely caught onto this, as Rooker was allegedly in trade discussions with teams like the Phillies. However, the A’s were “reluctant” to part with him, and who could blame them with this production. 

As a reminder, the Athletics are the fourth team that Rooker has played for in his career. One would think the Twins, Padres, and Royals are kicking themselves a fair bit thinking of what their lineup could have looked like if they had a bit more patience with Rooker. While he will not be in the mainstream discussion for the MVP award this season, this level of dominance Rooker is displaying offensively is encouraging for A’s fans, who have not had a whole lot to cheer about these past couple of years. 

NL MVP: Willy Adames, Milwaukee Brewers Shortstop

It feels like every season there is a player best fit for the “that’s the quietest 100 RBI season I’ve ever seen” quip from one of your friends. Willy Adames is your latest candidate. While he is only slashing .253/.335/.473, Adames has (as of September 8th) 30 HRs and 101 RBIs this season, with 18 stolen bases to boot. This season has him with career highs in runs, stolen bases, and RBIs, and is on pace to set new marks with doubles, HRs, and walks as well. This is a remarkable twist of fate from his previous season of a .217/.310/.407 line with only 24 HRs and 80 RBIs. While that year left much to be desired, this is a near perfect season to put up in a culminating year before reaching free agency. As a neat cherry on top, Adames is currently tied with Ken Griffey Jr. with the most three-run home runs in a single season with 13 (as of September 9th). As an additional wrinkle from Adam McCalvy of MLB.com, that is more three-run home runs than the Cardinals, White Sox, Pirates, Rays, and Mariners have had as a team this season. 

Adames has consistently been a factor in the Brewers lineup for a number of years, and has ironically only received MVP votes in his 2021 season, where he was traded half way through the season from the Rays. In those 99 games, he accrued 3.6 WAR and finished 16th in NL MVP voting, despite not even being there to begin the season. Shockingly, Adames has not had any MVP votes since that season, despite putting up similar numbers to 2021. Hopefully this changes in his 2024 campaign, and is rewarded with a lengthy and lucrative contract from 2025 onward. 

AL Cy Young: Cole Ragans, Kansas City Royals

The breakout and dominant campaign of Seth Lugo for the Royals is on the tip of everyone’s tongues. However, his younger running mate has been just as good this season. As of September 9th, Ragans has thrown to a 3.33 ERA, a 2.94 FIP, and a 1.153 WHIP with 204 strikeouts in 167.1 innings pitched. Ragans began his breakout in Kansas City last season, becoming utterly dominant since being traded from Texas in the Aroldis Chapman deal. In 2023, Ragans went from a 5.92 ERA in 24.1 innings in Texas to a 2.64 ERA in 71.2 innings in Kansas City. While the ERA in 2024 is slightly higher, this is essentially the same pace he was at, and it is somehow going significantly under the radar this season. In his first All-Star season, Ragans has delivered 19 Quality Starts while sporting an 11.0 K/9. He is tied for 9th in MB with 4.2 WAR among all pitchers, which is higher than names like Framber Valdez, Garrett Crochet, and Logan Webb. 

Ragans has without a doubt played a remarkable role in propelling a Royals team who, reminder, lost 107 games just last season, back into contention. On nearly any other team, Ragans is a headlining ace who would be consistently named in Cy Young discussions. However, with the improbable and surprise season that Seth Lugo has put together, Ragans falls to the background. Lugo not only leads the league with 193 innings pitched, but bests Ragans with a 2.94 ERA, 16 Wins, and a 4.9 WAR among pitchers. Pair that with this quality season coming out of nowhere from Lugo’s norms, and it is not hard to see why his name is mentioned before Ragans’. However, it would be a disservice to not mention the performance Ragans has given Kansas City, and I, for one, look forward to seeing his dominant ways for the Royals in their first postseason in nearly a decade.

NL Cy Young: Michael King, San Diego Padres

Of all the pieces involved in the trade sending Juan Soto to the Yankees, Michael King has been the most valuable thus far for the Padres, for this season at least. Prior to 2024, many baseball fans would be more familiar with King’s work as a reliever for the Yankees. However, he did manage to get some runs as a starter near the tail end of the New York season in 2023. King made the most of his opportunity, posting a 2.23 ERA, 1.141 WHIP, and 51 strikeouts in only 40.1 innings pitched in 9 starts. Compared to his 3.08 ERA, 1.150 WHIP, and 76 strikeouts in 64.1 innings pitched in his 40 appearances as a reliever, King looked just as, if not more deadly as a starter. The only question was if King could handle the highs and lows of a starting pitcher workload. 

In 2024, King answered that question with a resounding yes. Through 29 starts, King has posted a 3.06 ERA, 1.212 WHIP, and 191 strikeouts in 161.2 innings pitched. That is good for 9th in ERA and 7th in strikeouts across the entire league. King has gotten through 6 innings in a start 14 times this season, and has struck out 8+ batters in 8 starts as well. Only Dylan Cease has done that more often for the Padres in 2024. Of course, the record of dominance Cease held in the American League puts his name at top of mind for most mainstream viewers. Cease is among a plethora of popular names in the Padres rotation, accompanied by fellow no-hitter thrower Joe Musgrove and seasoned veteran Yu Darvish. However, King is significantly above all of these highly regarded names in ERA+ with a 133, with the closest rotation member being Darvish with a 116 in only 64 innings. King’s 133 ERA+ among qualified starters is tied for 6th in MLB with Shota Imanaga, Framber Valdez, and Tanner Houck.

While his name is not as flashy as the rest of his teammates in the starting rotation, Michael King is doing his part in raising his name into an elite echelon in Major League Baseball.

AL Rookie of the Year: Colt Keith, Detroit Tigers Second Baseman

With the entire Detroit Tigers team looking like an underestimated and underappreciated dark horse themselves for the playoffs (aside from Tarik Skubal), who better to represent them than Colt Keith.

One of the rare crop of players to sign a major league contract prior to ever stepping on the field for their debut, Keith made the Tigers straight out of Spring Training. It did take some time to get acclimated, as Keith was slashing .197/.259/.220 on May 19th. Two games and 6 hits later, he bumped himself up to a .230/.286/.267. That in itself is still not a great row of numbers to own,  but it displayed that there is a productive player in this individual that just needed some time to make his presence. Since May 21st, Keith has proceeded to hit .272 and now owns a slash line of .261/.311/.380. This includes a month of July where Keith pumped out 7 HRs, 17 RBIs, and 12 walks with a .322/.404/.644 slash. He has not had a month since then where he has collectively hit under .260. Keith has also been an impressive defender for a rookie, as he ranks in the 81st percentile in Range (OAA) in the league. 

Now, to be frank, Keith is in a much lower tier of rookie than the rest of the field in 2024. There is a significant gap of production between Keith and contenders like Abreu, Cowser, and Wells. However, the progression of Keith throughout the season and his ability to make adjustments and rise to adversity is impressive and deserves some spotlight as his Tigers try for a postseason berth.

NL Rookie of the Year: Tyler Fitzgerald, San Francisco Giants Shortstop

The Giants, for a couple of seasons now, have had a shortstop problem since the decline of Brandon Crawford. The initial plan was to address this with Carlos Correa, but due to injury concerns, that contract went up in smoke. Marco Luciano has been a top rated prospect, but has yet to really make his mark and earn a full time role in the position. 

Enter Tyler Fitzgerald, a 30th round pick in the 2016 draft. The 26-year-old had a cup of coffee in the major leagues in 2023, and was relatively solid with a 99 OPS+ and a .219/.265/.469 slashline with 2 HRs and 5 RBIs in 10 games. The beginning of 2024 looked like it would be more of the same for Fitzgerald, as by July 8th, he hit .276/.329/.395 with only 1 HR and 6 RBIs. 

However, on July 9th, something clicked. Fitzgerald proceeded to go on one of the most unexpected homer runs in recent memory, hitting 8 in 10 games, including 5 straight games with a home run. In this 10-game span, Fitzgerald hit .429 and more than doubled his RBI total at the time with 13. However, this has been more than just a flash in the pan, as since July 9th, Fitzgerald has hit .304 with 13 HRs, 25 RBIs, and quietly has had 11 stolen bases as well. Fitzgerald has become the staple at shortstop the Giants have been after, and can even play any of the other positions in a pinch. 

Sure, Fitzgerald is nowhere near the quality of a Paul Skenes or Jackson Merrill, but his breakout campaign has helped the Giants in the present, and hopefully sets them up for success in the future. 

AL Manager of the Year: Joe Espada, Houston Astros

Some were saying that this was the year the wheels had finally fallen off the Houston wagon. The Astros had gotten off to an abysmal start to the season, with a 10-19 record by the end of April. However, Espada, who has been an associate coach with the team for years now, preached patience and spoke of belief in his team. 

It took a while, but the Houston Astros of old are back, and perhaps never left. On June 26th, they regained a .500 record of 40-40, and since July, have gone 35-27. They proceeded to take back the AL West crown from the Mariners despite being as far as 10 games behind, and now have a 4.5 game lead going into the final two weeks of the season.  

One thing Espada has done remarkably well going into the end of the season is his management of the starting rotation. While it was an Achilles heel for the most part this season, after the acquisition of Yusei Kikuchi from Toronto, Espada has been working with a 6-man rotation. With that has come some tough decisions, and only more to come towards the postseason. One of those in particular is the choice to move Ronel Blanco to the bullpen. Despite having a no-hitter under his belt and 2.99 ERA through 26 starts, Espada opted to put Blanco in the pen to save his arm for October; a tough choice that other managers most likely would opt against. The tougher choice may be having to move legendary pitcher Justin Verlander to the bullpen in the postseason due to his lackluster performance recently.

Regardless of how the Astros rotation unfolds in October, the job that Joe Espada has done to push his team from the basement to the top of the AL West is something that is likely getting overlooked due to the reputation of this Astros dynasty. Espada has always played a role in Houston’s success, and it should be intriguing how he tries to continue the trend, now as the manager. 

NL Manager of the Year: Carlos Mendoza, New York Mets

Taking the manager’s mantle for a team with as much folklore around it as the New York Mets was never going to be easy for Carlos Mendoza. And yet, he has done an impeccable job for a team most considered to be transitional to next year. Things were definitely not sunshine and rainbows to begin with though, as the team got off to a putrid 29-37 start by June 12th. However, since that day, and with the appearance of Grimace to throw out the first pitch, these Mets have improbably gone 52-28, and are fighting for the final wild card spot. 

One of the most impressive aspects of Mendoza’s season is the production he has managed to get out of unsuspecting role players. Take Jose Iglesias for example. Iglesias did not even receive a call up the previous season despite being in a competitive organization with the Padres. Now, this season, you could argue that he is one of, if not the most important presence to that Mets clubhouse. Iglesias is slashing a .317/.371/.441 after some would not have blinked twice if his career had come to an end. Whether it be his infectious personality, or his Candelita aura from his hit single “OMG”, Iglesias has now cemented himself this season as a locker room leader. However, this does not come to pass without the impressive deployment from Carlos Mendoza. Who knows what comes of Iglesias if he is overexposed as a full time starter or does not get a proper amount of playing time. Mixing in time for Iglesias and Jeff McNeil equally, as well as outfielders like Tyrone Taylor and Harrison Bader,  has ultimately benefited the Mets in the long run. 

Who knows if they reach the postseason, but given the scraps that Mendoza has had to work with, he has done a tremendous job.