A couple of weeks ago, I was in a sports card shop and chatting with the owner. That owner was very generous and gave me some packs of 2020 Topps Update series. I was so surprised because I didn’t expect this. I opened these packs and found a cool card, which is a short print card of Pete Alonso. On the front, it seems that Alonso was giving a speech on the stage.
Pete Alonso won the 2019 NL Rookie of the Year award, however, it seems that his second year in the majors didn’t go well and Alonso experienced a sophomore slump.
Let’s look at the Rookie of the Year winners from 2015 to 2019 and see who faced the same problem.
Carlos Correa and Kris Bryant each had a very good rookie year. They each crushed more than 20 home runs in 2015 and posted an over .850 OPS. In 2016, Carlos Correa had a good sophomore year since he had a batting average of over .270 and an over .800 OPS. For Kris Bryant, 2016 was an unforgettable year so far in his career. He was hitting .292 and had a .939 OPS. At the same time, Bryant crushed 39 home runs and collected 102 RBI. Bryant didn’t have any problems in his sophomore year. He won the 2016 NL MVP and the Cubs won the 2016 World Series title.
Michael Fulmer was the 2016 AL Rookie of the Year winner. He tossed 159 innings and earned 11 wins. He posted a 3.06 ERA and his WHIP was 1.12. In the National League, Corey Seager had an amazing 2016. He was called up in September 2015 and showed that he could be a star. He was hitting .308/.365/.512 with 26 home runs and he was selected to the 2016 All-Star Game. In 2017, both Fulmer and Seager were selected to the Midsummer Classic. Their stats might not be as good as in 2016, but they still contribute a lot to their teams.
The 2017 Rookie of the Year awards belonged to two home run hitters. Aaron Judge blasted 52 homers in 2017 and Cody Bellinger had 39. Bellinger had an OPS of .933 and Aaron Judge’s OPS was over 1.000. Judge collected 114 RBI and Bellinger had 97. No doubt that they were both All-Stars. Also, they both participated in the 2017 Home Run Derby and Judge was the winner. In 2018, they each hit more than 20 homers. However, injury limited Judge’s performance and Bellinger suffered a bit in his sophomore year.
“Showtime” began in 2018. Shohei Ohtani landed in America from Japan. He was batting .285/.361/.564 in his rookie year. On the mound, he tossed 51.2 innings and threw 63 strikeouts, however, UCL injury did limit his pitching performance. Ohtani was a full-time DH in 2019 and he batted .286/.343/.505. Ronald Acuna Jr.’s rookie year went very well. Acuna was hitting .293/.366/.552 in 2018 and had 26 home runs. The next year, Acuna blasted 41 homers, collected 101 RBI and had 37 stolen bases. No sophomore slump for Acuna and he was an All-Star in 2019.
Yordan Alvarez only played 87 games in 2019, but that’s enough for him to hit 27 home runs. He batted .313/.412/.655 and had an OPS of 1.067. Those numbers truly showed that Alvarez was really dangerous. Due to injury, Alvarez only played 2 games last season. In 2019, Pete Alonso blasted 53 home runs to set the record for the most homers by a rookie in a single season. Although Alonso had 16 homers in 2020, 7th most in the majors, he was only hitting .231 and his OPS dropped to .817.
Being a major league player is not easy. Being a good major leaguer is not easy. Being a good player consistently is really hard. These Rookie of the Year winners did a great job in their rookie seasons, but more or less they faced some problems in their sophomore years. Injuries influenced Judged and Alvarez and they couldn’t contribute as much as they did in the rookie seasons. Cody Bellinger and Pete Alonso each hit the sophomore wall as we can see that some of their numbers dropped. However, Bellinger made adjustments and won the 2019 NL MVP. In 2021, it will be worth watching whether Alonso can bounce back.
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