Each year, certain rookies make their mark in a way that merits special acknowledgment during awards season. While there are certainly many rookies who had individual games, months or other stretches over which they performed well this past season, two of them will walk away with hardware to show they were the league’s best with a Rookie of the Year Award.
Last year, those rookies were a pair of right-handed pitchers — the Yankees’ Luis Gil and the Pirates’ Paul Skenes. Who will follow in their footsteps?
Here’s a look at each Rookie of the Year Award finalist for 2025 ahead of the announcement of the winners on MLB Network at 7 p.m. ET on Monday:
The fact that Anthony is even a finalist with 303 plate appearances proves how strong his body of work was in his initiation to the Majors. There is precedent for a player winning Rookie of the Year with even fewer plate appearances, but youâ€d have to go back to Willie McCovey, who won in the National League with 219 plate appearances for the Giants in 1959 — a season in which he made up for lost time with a 1.085 OPS.
In fact, Anthonyâ€s 3.1 bWAR was the same as McCoveyâ€s in â€59. In the 66 games Anthony started this season, the Red Sox went 40-26. They were 49-47 in all other games. Anthony got his callup to the Majors on June 9, and he was arguably Bostonâ€s top position player in his nearly three months of action before suffering a season-ending left oblique strain on Sept. 2. Anthonyâ€s batting line of .292/.396/.463 helped the Red Sox make the playoffs after Rafael Devers was dealt to the Giants on June 15.
While manager Alex Cora chose to sit many of his key left-handed hitters against lefty pitching, Anthony held his own against southpaws, hitting .278 with four homers in 98 plate appearances. Against righties, he was elite, coming through with a .903 OPS. As Anthony continues to gain experience and get stronger, he should turn into one of the elite hitters in the game. He also holds his own in the outfield. Perhaps Anthonyâ€s best gift is his batting eye. His .396 OBP was the best of any rookie with as many as 250 at-bats. — Ian Browne
Kurtz had arguably one of the greatest rookie seasons in MLB history and likely has a case for some down-ballot AL MVP votes with what he just pulled off. Debuting on April 23, just 283 days from the date he was drafted, Kurtz ended up leading all MLB rookies in home runs (36), RBIs (86), extra-base hits (64), runs (90), slugging percentage (.619) and OPS (1.002), becoming just the eighth rookie since 1901 to post an OPS over 1.000 (min. 400 plate appearances) and first since Aaron Judge in 2017.
Though he arrived with just 32 Minor League games under his belt, at no point did Kurtz ever look overmatched at the highest level.
“It was pretty special to watch,†Aâ€s designated hitter Brent Rooker said. “Itâ€s kind of what I imagine it looked like when youâ€re watching generational-type hitters begin their career. The advanced approach. The advanced feel to hit, and the sheer raw, brute force he also has in terms of strength and bat speed.â€
On July 25, the 22-year-old slugger put on a performance for the ages, going 6-for-6 with four home runs against the Astros at Daikin Park to become the first rookie in AL/NL history with a four-homer game and only the 20th player overall. — MartÃn Gallegos
He challenged Judge for the AL batting title up until the final week of the regular season, finishing the year tied for second among all AL hitters with a .311 batting average, and that mark likely would have been higher had he not played through injury, going on a 4-for-38 (.105) slump in the nine games following a fractured right forearm sustained on July 8 — he landed on the injured list a week later.
Wilson led all Major League rookies in batting average and hits (151). Striking out just 39 times, his average of 13.41 plate appearances per strikeout was the best of any hitter in the AL, and he likely would have been the easy pick here had he been a rookie in any other year. The real question will be where he ends up in the voting. If Wilson and Kurtz finish first and second in Rookie of the Year voting in either order, they would become just the ninth set of teammates to do so and the first in the AL since 1984 Mariners teammates Alvin Davis and Mark Langston. — MartÃn Gallegos
Baldwinâ€s candidacy is rooted in the consistent production he provided at a key position over the entire season. The Braves catcher led all NL rookies in fWAR (3.1) while proving his value extends beyond his great swing. He batted .274 — which ranked second among NL rookies — with 19 homers and constructed an .810 OPS. His 125 Weighted Runs Created Plus ranked first among NL rookies who played at least 100 games.
Baldwin made his MLB debut on Opening Day and quickly erased any thoughts of him returning to the Minors. Concerns about his defense were erased by the immediate praise he received from Chris Sale and other veteran pitchers. The 24-year-old backstop surrendered an NL-high 88 stolen bases, but he ranked among the best pitch blockers and was regularly lauded for his game-calling skills.
One month after introducing himself to the big league scene, Baldwin caught fire. He exited April with a .731 OPS and then posted a 1.003 OPS in May. He also had an .800-plus OPS during each of the seasonâ€s final three months. In contrast, Caleb Durbin — another finalist — didnâ€t produce an .800 OPS during any month of this past season. As for the other Rookie of the Year finalist, Cade Horton, he posted a 4.45 ERA while making just 11 appearances (10 starts) before the All-Star break. — Mark Bowman
The 5-foot-7 infielder has been on Brewers manager Pat Murphyâ€s radar since Durbinâ€s days in the Northwoods League, a collegiate wood bat circuit that brought Durbin to Wisconsin when Murphyâ€s eldest son Kai was also playing. Whether it was that Durbinâ€s stature and grit reminded Murphy of one of his favorite players at Arizona State, Dustin Pedroia, or something else, Murphy was thrilled when the Brewers brought Durbin to Milwaukee along with veteran left-hander Nestor Cortes via last winterâ€s Devin Williams trade.
Durbin didnâ€t make Milwaukeeâ€s Opening Day roster but was in the Majors before the end of April, and he helped stabilize third base by hitting .256/.334/.387 with 11 home runs and 53 RBIs. He ranked among the NLâ€s rookie leaders in stolen bases (first, 18), runs (second, 60), hits (third, 114), doubles (third, 25), home runs (fourth, 11), total bases (fourth, 172), RBIs (tied-fourth, 53) and extra-base hits (fifth, 36), and led the entire NL in hit-by-pitches with 24, one shy of the franchise record.
One hit stood out as the best example of what Durbin brought the Brewers: a two-out, two-strike, two-run double after five consecutive foul balls on May 25 in Pittsburgh that propelled the Brewers, three games under .500 at the start of that day, toward their first victory all season after trailing by multiple runs. It was the seasonâ€s turning point, sparking an eight-game winning streak that sent the Brewers surging up the standings to a franchise-record 97 wins. — Adam McCalvy
The Cubs expected Horton to make his MLB debut in 2025, but his arrival in May after Shota Imanaga landed on the injured list was earlier than anticipated. The Cubs†2022 first-rounder took the opportunity and ran with it, holding down a spot in the rotation the rest of the way and excelling even while dealing with workload limitations.
Overall, the 24-year-old Horton finished 11-4 with a 2.67 ERA in 23 appearances (22 starts), finishing with 97 strikeouts and 33 walks in 118 innings before a fractured rib ended his season just ahead of the playoffs. Those numbers are strong enough on the surface, but they do not tell the full story of Hortonâ€s season.
Horton allowed seven runs in a forgettable four-inning outing in Houston on June 27, and made no excuses after the start. The rookie vowed to dive into what went wrong and make the proper adjustments. All Horton did from there on out was post some historically good stats the rest of the way for the Cubs in their run to the team’s first playoff berth since 2020.
After that game in Houston, Horton spun a 1.36 ERA in his next 14 turns, allowing one or zero runs in 12 of those starts. From July 11 on, the righty had a 1.03 ERA, which led all MLB starters (min. 40 innings). Since 1913, when earned runs became an official stat, Hortonâ€s second-half ERA trails only Jake Arrieta (0.75 in 2015) in Cubs history. — Jordan Bastian
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