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Wilyer Abreu (Photo by Eddie Kelly / ProLook Photos)
Many words have already been written about the players competing for MLB’s Rookie of the Year awards.
However, which teams received the most production from first-year players this season? Who were the notable and unheralded names who provided that value?
Today’s piece will focus on exactly that for a handful of American League rosters, while the next installment will cover the National League.
Let’s dive in!
Boston Red Sox
As evidenced in the chart below, no American League team accrued more fWAR from rookies in 2024 than the Red Sox:
This effort was led by Wilyer Abreu, who finished third among AL position players with 3.0 fWAR, trailing only Colton Cowser (4.0) and Austin Wells (3.4).
Acquired in the drama-inducing Christian Vazquez deal with the Astros back at the 2022 trade deadline, Abreu debuted late last season, at which point it became clear this would be a long-term win for Chaim Bloom’s legacy.
Abreu rode a .431 BABIP to hit .316/.388/.474 in his 28-game sample in 2023. Boston’s September collapse this year included struggles from Abreu, but he still posted a 114 wRC+ with strong defensive metrics.
Abreu combines a fly ball-heavy approach with an elite hard-hit rate to wind up with a 74th-percentile barrel rate. There’s some swing-and-miss to his approach, and like most young hitters, he could benefit from improved swing decisions. The ultimate upside is in question, but the 25-year-old performed like a well-rounded, valuable young player in 2024.
Then there’s the always-entertaining Ceddanne Rafaela, who just tied the record for the highest chase rate in Sports Info Solutions’ database, which dates back to 2002:
This led to a 2.6 BB%, which is the lowest in MLB (min. 500 PAs) since Dee Strange-Gordon in 2018.
Rafaela posted a .813 OPS in July but was otherwise a below-average hitter in the season’s remaining months. There are tools to dream on, but it’s obvious where Rafaela needs to improve in 2025.
Defensively, he’s a unique player who started 71 games at shortstop and 72 in center field as a rookie. However, his defensive metrics are far superior in the outfield, and with Trevor Story healthy heading into 2025, Rafaela will likely spend most of his time in CF next season.
Elsewhere for Boston, David Hamilton swiped 33 bases in just 98 games while filling in at shortstop and second base….