What to Know
- Major League Baseball's home run champion Pete Alonso of the New York Mets won the NL Rookie of the Year award
- The hard hitting first baseman mashed 53 home runs to take the home run title, while driving in 120 runners and hitting .260 in 161 games
- Alonso, who was nicknamed the "Polar Bear" helped fuel a surprising run for the Mets in the second half
Major League Baseball's home run champion Pete Alonso of the New York Mets won the NL Rookie of the Year award.
The hard-hitting first baseman mashed 53 home runs to take the home run title, while driving in 120 runners and hitting .260 in 161 games.
Alonso, who was nicknamed the "Polar Bear" and helped fuel a surprising run for the Mets in the second half, which kept them in the Wild Card hunt until the last week of the season despite being 10 games under .500 after the All-Star Break.
The rookie quickly became the face of baseball in Flushing, beloved for his power, personality and philanthropy — he gifted $100,000 from his All-Star Home Run Derby prize to charities supporting injured soldiers and 9/11 workers.
The slugger is the sixth Met to win the award and first since teammate Jacob deGrom in 2014.
The awards were announced Monday night. Alonso got 29 of 30 first-place votes by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, as well as a second place vote. Braves right-handed pitcher Mike Soroka finished in second, receiving the lone other first place vote and 25 votes for second.
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Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres finished third, with the Pirates' Bryan Reynolds, Cardinals' Dakota Hudson and Nationals Victor Robles also getting votes.
In the American League, Astros' Yordan Alvarez was unanimously selected as Rookie of the Year after hitting .313 with 27 home runs and a 1.067 OPS in 87 games after being called up in June.
