Hey, we actually got some nominations in this category! Only three, but that’s okay, as it gives me leeway to throw a couple of additional choices into the mix. It’ll be interesting to see how these go: there are a couple of candidates who would appear to be hot favorites, but as we’ll see, the “best” player might have a big mark in the negative column against him. Or he might not. Anyway, if you can find time to vote, in between over-eating and unwrapping Christmas presents, that would be lovely. I’ll tally up the results and announce the winner on Saturday. The candidates are below, listed in alphabetical order.

Del Castillo made an immediate impact when he first hit the majors in August 2024. He won the ‘Pittie for Play of the Year in only his second game, homering off [cough!] future D-back Pete Fairbanks. Inevitably, his second (and final) rookie campaign was hard-pushed to match that. But he still cracked four home-runs, all of them with runners on base. Indeed, that was when the rookie was at his best: with runners in scoring position, Adrian there had a line of .281/.306/.625 for a .931 OPS, behind only Corbin Carroll and Eugenio Suarez. [Ok… and Ryne Nelson!] He currently has a legit shot to be part of the team’s everyday rotation at designated hitter in 2026.

Morillo appeared in 42 games this year, more than all Diamondback pitchers bar Jalen Beeks and Ryan Thompson. His average fastball was 99.0 mph, the hardest of anyone on the staff this year, and second-highest in franchise history among those with over 10 IP, behind only Justin Martinez’s 100.5 mph last season. That translated into a strikeout rate of 9.4 per nine innings, compared to an Arizona bullpen average of 8.1/9 IP. Morillo settled down following a couple of rough outings in mid-May to become a solid reliever. Over 33 appearances after that, he had a 3.51 ERA and a very impressive 2.86 FIP, setting him up for an everyday role next season.

Three-inning saves are unusual. Three-inning saves in genuinely close games are rarer still. Three-inning saves in genuinely close games as your MLB debut? Yeah. Rashi was the first to do that in 36 years, since Mickey Weston in 1989. It included retiring Christian Yelich for the final out, with the tying run on base. Rashi then followed this up by getting a six-out save in his second outing – the first to accomplish that feat in over four decades (Lance McCullers – Sr, to be clear! – in 1985). Thanks to 22 strikeouts over 16.2 innings, Rashi ended the year with a 1.91 FIP, the lowest mark by a D-back with three or more frames of work this season. Or, as Taylor calls it, “my first game.”

As Michael said in the nominations thread, “This should be a runaway because the other rookies put up typical rookie numbers.” Certainly, Saalfrank returned to the form he showed when he first came up, not allowed an earned run until his 12th appearance. Across 28 games, he had a 1.24 ERA, though his FIP was more than two runs higher. The elephant in the room, however, is the reason why he played only 28 games. Saalfrank was suspended for a year after having been found to be gambling on baseball (not on D-backs games). That kept him off the roster until early June. Should that be a factor in our decision? I leave that thorny question up to the voters.

We had our eye on Tawa in January, calling him a potential 2025 roster dark-horse. While Tawa didn’t crack the Opening Day roster, it didn’t take long, being called up after Ketel Marte was injured, and making his debut on April 5. He made a great first impression, with an OPS over 1.000 in his first 14 games, and led this year’s crop of rookies by appearing 74 times. Tim’s versatility (something highlighted in our article) proved particularly helpful: he started games at five different positions (1B, 2B, 3B, LF, CF) and appeared at a sixth (RF). There remains room for improvement, something of which Tawa seems aware – but that’s true of every rookie. If you’re not striving to do better next year, you’re doing it wrong. 🙂