Top 5 NL ROY Candidates: Cards' Walker, D-Backs' Carroll Rank Highly

The National League is loaded with young talent in 2023, and many candidates warrant consideration to win NL Rookie of the Year going into the season.

Below, we’ll look into the top five candidates using odds from FanDuel Sportsbook.

Corbin Carroll of the Arizona Diamondbacks is the odds-on favorite for the NL ROY. He hit .260 with the D-Backs in a short stint to end 2022, and he’ll be looking to capture the award where he owns +350 odds. The hyped prospect is being touted as the future face of the organization, highlighting that expectations are indeed high for the 22-year-old outfielder. He already inked a long-term extension with the club during spring training, and now it’ll be up to him to begin making a difference at the top of their lineup. 

Jordan Walker cracked the opening day roster for the St. Louis Cardinals and is on track to be a starting outfielder for the NL Central favorites. In Double-A Springfield, Walker posted an OPS above .900 last season, and he’s looking to build off that at the Major League level in 2023. He cracked three home runs in spring training to build his case and will be a real threat to take home the honors in his first big league season at +390. Walker is a real threat to do damage immediately for St. Louis, and thus, that his firmly in the running to capture the ROY. 

If you’re looking for a team that spent money in the offseason to bolster their club, look no further than the New York Mets. They signed Kodai Senga out of Japan, and he’ll be looking to impact their starting rotation immediately. It feels somewhat weird to be talking up a 30-year-old pitcher to win NL Rookie of the Year, but that’s exactly the case here. Senga is coming off a campaign in Japan, where he posted an 11-6 record with a 1.89 ERA. There should be an adjustment period for him, but he has the stuff to be an impact player for the Mets. 

The Los Angeles Dodgers are known for producing young talent and having one of MLB’s top farm systems. Another graduate headed for the show is Miguel Vargas, who’s expected to see playing time from the get-go with the Dodgers. He posted a .780 OPS during spring training and looked to have won a spot in their infield to begin the campaign. Vargas had a cup of coffee with the Dodgers in 2022, and that didn’t go well in just 47 at-bats, but he can use that to his advantage and knows what to expect going into 2023 in a full-time role. 

It was an impressive spring for Ezequiel Tovar with the Colorado Rockies, which saw him hit above .300, along with boasting an OPS over .800. The youthful shortstop has the potential to be a top-of-the-line defender for the Rockies and should provide value right off the hop at the plate and defensively. Whether or not he’s a contender for NL ROY could depend on how he adapts at the plate. He’s prone to strikeouts, which could be problematic in his adjustments with taking on big-league pitching. Tovar sits in a tie with Vargas for the fourth-shortest odds at +1000. 

Top 5 NL ROY Candidates Odds on FanDuel Sportsbook. 

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