Colton Cowser, Shota Imanaga lead second Rookie of the Year poll

The first month and change of the 2024 season brought its share of surprises — some of which you’ll see reflected below.

With a better sense of this year’s crop of young talent, a panel of voters at MLB.com was asked once again to rank their top five Rookie of the Year candidates in each league based on what they’ve seen and what they expect to unfold over the rest of the season.

Rookies received vote points on a 5-4-3-2-1 scale — five points for a first-place vote, four points for a second-place vote and so on, with 38 voters participating. Here are the results.

All stats updated through Sunday.

1. Colton Cowser, Orioles (17 first-place votes)
Cowser isn’t the Oriole most expected to be up here — that would be Jackson Holliday, back in Triple-A after a difficult first stint in the Majors — but the rookie they call “The Milkman” definitely earned his way to the top. Baltimore’s surprise standout is hitting .276/.354/.575 with six home runs through Sunday’s action and ranks in the 97th percentile of qualifying Major Leaguers with a punishing 18.5% barrel rate.

2. Mason Miller, A’s (14 first-place votes)
Remove “among rookies” from your vocabulary; Miller was recently named the AL Reliever of the Month for April, and it’s not difficult to understand why. Miller’s velocity has dominated the conversation — his four-seamer has averaged 100.7 mph — but he’s been incredibly effective to back that up, pitching to a 1.26 ERA with 29 strikeouts in 14 1/3 innings and generating a 48.1% whiff rate (100th percentile).

3. Evan Carter, Rangers (5 first-place votes)
Carter isn’t the only Rangers rookie off to a slow start in 2024 — teammate Wyatt Langford, who finished first in last month’s Rookie of the Year poll, is in the same boat and just went on the injured list — but his strong performance through the Rangers’ 2023 World Series run (and the five home runs he’s already managed through May 5) is so far carrying some of the weight of his .227 AVG.

4. Wyatt Langford, Rangers (2 first-place votes)
Most ballots were submitted before Langford hit the injured list with a Grade 1 hamstring strain on Monday. However, as of now, the injury is only expected to cost him about a month, which would hardly put him out of the running for the Rookie of the Year Award. Voters are evidently still reasonably high on Langford’s impressive spring and his mature approach despite his rough start to the year — 1 HR (inside-the-parker), .588 OPS through 31 games — although his share of first-place votes has fallen by 22 voters.

5. Wilyer Abreu, Red Sox
An entirely new addition, Abreu didn’t receive a single vote in the first Rookie of the Year poll back in early April, but he has played his way into consideration by hitting .297 with two home runs and five stolen bases in the early going. He’s also helped to spell fellow Red Sox rookie Ceddanne Rafaela, who hasn’t started off quite so well despite his higher stock.

Others receiving votes: Luis Gil, NYY; Wenceel Pérez, DET; Ceddanne Rafaela, BOS; Kyle McCann, OAK; Junior Caminero, TB; Cooper Criswell, BOS; Jackson Holliday, BAL; Cade Smith, CLE; Kyle Manzardo, CLE; Nolan Schanuel, LAA; Hunter Gaddis, CLE

1. Shota Imanaga, Cubs (25 first-place votes)
This enormous swing in favor of Imanaga, who finished third in our first poll — Jackson Chourio, who’s fallen out of the top five, held the lead a month ago — should come as no surprise. He’s been one of the best pitchers in baseball, going 5-0 with a 0.78 ERA and 0.75 WHIP in his first six starts in the Majors.

2. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers (8 first-place votes)
Since his rough debut, Yamamoto has been the picture of consistency for a Dodgers rotation still waiting on several of its big arms. Through seven starts, the 25-year-old has a 2.91 ERA and has stolen the show with his excellent splitter, against which opposing hitters have a .175 SLG and 18 strikeouts in 40 at-bats ending on the pitch.

3. Jared Jones, Pirates (3 first-place votes)
A new addition to the top five, Jones has been one of the most thrilling starters to watch in the early going, with his combination of a 97 mph four-seamer and a wipeout slider already having created an iconic moment. Through his first seven Major League starts he has a 2.63 ERA, 156 ERA+ and the highest qualifying K/BB rate in baseball (10.40).

4. Michael Busch, Cubs (1 first-place vote)
Busch has slowed down since his red-hot start — he went 21-for-64 (.328) with an OPS of 1.062 through his first 19 games of the season but has hit just .177 since — but he’s clearly already won over quite a few of the experts, with one even giving him their first-place selection.

5. Jackson Merrill, Padres
Merrill, ironically, was the only one of baseball’s three young Jacksons not to appear in the top five in either league in our first poll. Now, at least for the time being, he’s all that remains. The 21-year-old has done a nice job holding down center field for the Padres, hitting .286 with two homers and 17 RBIs through Sunday’s action.

Others receiving votes: Paul Skenes, PIT (1 first-place vote); Andy Pages, LAD; Jackson Chourio, MIL; Kyle Harrison, SF; Masyn Winn, STL; Blaze Alexander, AZ; Max Meyer, MIA; Jacob Young, WSH; Jung Hoo Lee, SF