Jake McCarthy 4th in NL Rookie of the Year voting

Jake McCarthy received a quartet of third-place votes, though it must be admitted, there was a big gap after the top two. Michael Harris II and his teammate, pitcher Spencer Strider, combined for all thirty first-place votes and all but one of the second-place votes. It's the first time since 2011 that the top two finishers for NL Rookie of the Year have come from the same team. On the last occasion, it was also Atlanta, with Craig Kimbrel and Freddie Freeman. Third spot went to the Cardinals' Brendan Donovan, who got 22 third-place selections.

Neither AZ representative from the BBWAA (Meg Rowley of Fangraphs and The Athletic’s Zach Buchanan) voted for McCarthy; Leith Kaw was one of those who did pick McCarthy. Jake's overall fourth-place finish represents the highest position achieved in the category by a Diamondback since Wade Miley finished second to some guy called Bryce Harper in the 2012 voting. Whatever happened to him? Anyway, over the decade since, the other D-backs to be mentioned on ballots were as follows

• 2014: Ender Inciarte (5th, 4 points)
• 2014: Chase Anderson (10th, 1 point)
• 2018: Yoshihisa Hirano (=6th, 1 point)

By bWAR, McCarthy was probably a bit lucky to get votes. He only ranked sixth among NL rookies by this metric:

1. Michael Harris II: 5 3 bWAR
2. Brendan Donovan: 4.1
3. Spencer Strider: 3.7
4. Alexis Diaz, CIN: 3.1
5. Nick Lodolo, CIN: 3.1
6. Jake McCarthy: 2.4

McCarthy ranks fifth in franchise history among rookie Arizona position players. Inciarte's 3.3 bWAR in 2014 is still the best, ahead of A.J. Pollock (3.1, 2013), Christian Walker (2.8, 2018), Alex Cintron (2.7, 2003). But I'm hopeful a new mark might be set in 2023, with a full season of Corbin Carroll...