The Atlanta Braves got so many contributions from a variety of sources. Dansby Swanson, Austin Riley, and Travis d’Arnaud put up some of the best numbers of their careers so far. William Contreras was the designated hitter in the NL All-Star despite not being the team’s regular designated hitter. Kyle Wright and Max Fried were great all year long in the rotation, The bullpen led by AJ Minter, Kenley Jansen, Raisel Iglesias, and Colin McHugh were awesome all year long. However, one of the biggest reasons that the Braves were able to repeat as NL East champions was because of the contributions of their rookies, especially Michael Harris and Spencer Strider.
Both Harris and Strider played way above their experience levels during the 2022 season for the Braves and are heavy favorites to finish 1-2 in the NL Rookie of the Year voting. Today, BBWAA made their nominations for the award official.
As expected, the #Braves' dynamic duo of Michael Harris II and Spencer Strider are finalists for NL Rookie of the Year, along with the Cardinals' Brendan Donovan.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) November 8, 2022
Why the Atlanta Braves’ Michael Harris is (probably) the favorite to win Rookie of the Year?
Both Strider and Harris are incredibly deserving of the honor this year and if Strider ends up with the votes, no one should be upset. However, given a number of factors, it looks like Michael Harris will be the favorite going into the award’s announcement in a week.
First, Harris was absolutely dynamic for the Braves in multiple respects. He posted a 136 wRC+ and 4.8 fWAR in 114 games which is absolutely nutty production for a rookie. His slash line of .297/.339/.514 with 19 homers and 20 stolen bases almost undersells how important he was to the team. He also probably should have been a Gold Glove finalist for center field on top of his offensive production. The Braves thought so much of Harris’ play and potential that they went ahead and signed him to a long-term extension in August.
A couple other things are going Harris’ way in the ROY voting. Historically, everyday position players are given more credence by BBWAA voters than pitchers especially when it is close. This isn’t a particularly fair reason for why he is favorite, but history is what it is. Moreover, his chief competition, teammate Spencer Strider, missed time in the last month of the season while Harris was able to tack on some counting stats to his line.
Before his injury, Spencer Strider may have been in position to win it
While Harris put up an absolute great season, if Spencer Strider had been able to finish out the 2022 season normally and continued the pace he was on, he seemed like a strong candidate to seize the ROY trophy.
The numbers Strider put up are comical. He struck out 202 batters in 131.2 innings of work while posting a 4.9 fWAR season when HE WASN’T EVEN ORIGINALLY A STARTER to begin the season. He also set a franchise record for strikeouts in a game with 16 where he basically made the Rockies look like an A-ball team. Do not be surprised if Strider ends up getting some down ballot Cy Young voting love and if he had stayed healthy, he could have made the race at the top very interesting. On top of that, Spencer was so good that the Braves decided to go ahead and sign Strider to an extension, too.
One thing that Spencer does have going for him right now in terms of his candidacy is that he has already taken home some ROY hardware this offseason. The Sporting News named Strider their NL Rookie of the Year just a week or so ago. A few days after that, the Player’s Choice Awards were announced and yep, Strider won their National League rookie award, too.
This figures to be a close race between Harris and Strider and it will be really interesting to see how it all shakes out. As for Brendan Donovan’s chances to take home the award away from this Brave duo, well…its fair to say that that would be quite the upset.