KC Royals: Ranking the club’s 4 Rookies of the Year

Two Rookie of the Year awards—one for the American League and one for the National—are bestowed every year by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Like the name suggests, each award honors the rookie the BBWAA voters deem the best in each league. Could there be good future ROY candidates in the KC Royals’ talent-rich farm system?

Bobby Witt Jr., the top Kansas City prospect per MLB Pipeline and constant subject of speculation about when he’ll be called up, should be a good candidate. So should Jackson Kowar, whose 4-0 Triple-A record to go along with his 1.25 ERA, 32 strikeouts, and 1.015 WHIP may soon earn him a trip to Kansas City.

It’s not that far-fetched that a KC Royals prospect, such as Witt or Kowar, could be named Rookie of the Year when they reach the big leagues: the club has had four in its history.

Let’s go through their numbers to see which past Royals Rookie of the Year was the top one.

No. 4: Bob “The Hammer” Hamelin, 1994 Rookie of the Year for the KC Royals.

Bob Hamelin ranks as the fourth best Rookie of the Year the Royals have had.

“The Hammer” posted a slash line of .282/.388/.599 and a .987 OPS to clinch the award in the strike-shortened 1994 season. In the 101 games he played, Hamelin belted 24 home runs and had 65 RBIs.

The very next year, Hamelin wasn’t able to put it together—his production fell significantly as he hit .168/.278/.313 with a .591 OPS and only seven home runs in 72 games. In his 89 games in 1996, he came back with a modest slash of .255/.391/.435 and a much better .826 OPS.

After his Royals stint (the team released him in the spring of 1997), Hamelin seemed to put things back together when he went to Detroit. In his 1997 season with the Tigers, Hamelin hit .270 with 52 RBIs and 18 home runs in 110 games.

What Hamelin is most remembered for other than his 24 home runs in his rookie season, which earned him the nickname “The Hammer,” is when he quit the game for good when playing for the Toledo Mud Hens, Detroit’s Triple-A affiliate, in 1999.

After a groundout, and as Los Angeles Times writer Diane Pucin reported the event, Hamelin walked back to the dugout and announced “I’m done” to Mud Hen manager Gene Roof and, when Roof asked him if he meant just for the game, Hamelin said, “No, for good,” and walked into the clubhouse for the last time.

No. 2: Lou “Sweet Lou” Piniella ranks as the second best KC Royals ROY.

Lou Piniella is the second best Rookie of the Year the Royals have had. Piniella won the award during the Royals’ inaugural 1969 season and played with the team for its first five seasons.

Piniella’s rookie campaign was no joke for its time, as he notched a slash line of .282/.325/.416 with a .741 OPS. He hit 11 home runs, had 68 RBIs, and stole two bases in the 135 games he played. He was even in the Most Valuable Player discussion until it ultimately went to Harmon Killebrew (who later played for the Royals).

Sweet Lou’s 1970-73 seasons were even better—he hit a combined .286/.327/.401 with a .728 OPS. His 1972 was the most notable with a .312 BA, 72 RBIs, and 11 home runs in 151 games.

Kansas City traded Piniella and Ken Wright to the Yankees after the 1973 season for Lindy McDaniel. The legendary McDaniel went on to post a 3.75 ERA in 184.2 IP during the tail-end of his career, and it was clear the Yankees won the trade.

Piniella hit .295/.338/.413 with a .751 OPS in 11 New York seasons. He was in the MVP discussion and won the World Series twice while there.

Though many remember him as a member of the Yankees, no one can take away the fact that Sweet Lou was the very first batter in Royals history.

No. 1: Carlos “Mr. October Jr.” Beltran won in 1999 and is the best KC Royals ROY.

Carlos Beltran ranks as the best player who won Rookie of the Year as a Royal.

He hit .293/.337/.454 with a .791 OPS during his 1999 rookie season. He also clubbed 22 home runs, had 108 RBIs, and stole 27 bases during the 156 games he played for Kansas City that season.

In 2003, while Angel Berroa was making his own claim for AL Rookie of the Year, Beltran slashed .307/.389/.522 with a .911 OPS, 26 home runs, 100 RBIs, and 41 stolen bases.

The KC Royals then made the maddening mistake of dismantling the team for a 2005 rebuild, thus marking the end of Beltran’s tenure with the club as he was traded to the Houston Astros for Mike Wood, Mark Teahen, and John Buck.

Beltran continued to rake it up, as he hit for a combined .279/.350/.486 with a .837 OPS during his career. He had 435 home runs, 1,587 RBIs, 312 stolen bases, was a nine-time All-Star, a three-time Gold Glove Award winner, a two-time Silver Slugger, and won the now hotly debated 2017 World Series with the Astros. With this debacle still fresh in the mind, it was conflicting to rank Beltran over Sweet Lou for the No.1 overall Royals Rookie of the Year spot knowing Major League Baseball’s investigation implicated Beltran in Houston’s cheating scandal.

However, Beltran’s numbers still hold up in spite of this, the scandal doing nothing to tarnish what Beltran did as a Royal.

Out of the four Rookie of the Year winners in KC Royals history, Carlos Beltran ranks at the top.