NL & AL Rookie of the Year Odds 2026: Who’s MLB’s Next Young Star? (June 15)

There may not be a harder award race to pick in sports than MLB Rookie of the Year Awards.

Unlike in the NBA or NFL, where the top draft picks enter the league right away, and the best of the best typically are known from their first game, picking a rookie to win in the marathon of a 162-game season is a much more difficult task.

Often, the first part of the battle is just getting the rookie to the show to make their MLB debut, then it’s a matter of staying up. We have seen Rookie of the Years lead their race wire-to-wire, like Corbin Carroll in 2023, or Julio Rodriguez in 2022.

Other times, a clear-cut Rookie of the Year can be harder to find, like when Jonathan India won in 2021, or even when Luis Gil ended up taking home the 2024 award in the American League.

All it takes is a few hot months for any player or pitcher to vault themselves right to the top of a Rookie of the Year race. The only question is who will be the young stars that emerge this year.

This page will be your guide to the updated betting odds throughout the season, as we follow along with what is sure to be a thrilling race for both AL and NL Rookie of the Year.

Let’s dive into the odds to see which superstars are making their presence felt so far in the 2025 MLB ROY races. All odds provided are courtesy of BetMGM. For new users, use code JUSTBASEBALL for a first-bet offer up to $1500 if your first pick loses.

Current Rookie of the Year Award Odds: Top Contenders for 2026

Before we dive a little bit deeper into the races in each respective league, let’s just take a look at the current updated odds from BetMGM in the two Rookie of the Year races.

2026 American League Rookie of the Year Odds

Player	Team	Current Odds	Last Week’s Odds	Opening Odds	Implied Probability
Chase DeLauter	Cleveland Guardians	+2200	+1200	+1000	4.35%
Kevin McGonigle	Detroit Tigers	-145	+110	+600	59.18%
Munetaka Murakami	Chicago White Sox	+600	+400	+700	14.29%
Carter Jensen	Kansas City Royals	+5500	+5500	+1000	1.79%
Kazuma Okamoto	Toronto Blue Jays	+4000	+4000	+500	2.44%
Parker Messick	Cleveland Guardians	+900	+800	+3000 (4/6)	10%
Connelly Early	Boston Red Sox	+6600	+8000	+1000	1.49%
Travis Bazzana	Cleveland Guardians	+600	+500	+1400	14.29%

After such a hot start to the year, Guardians’ sensation Chase DeLauter cooled off at least in the power department. Since hitting 5 homeruns across the first 4 games of the season, DeLauter has homered only twice more and is sitting with an above average 109 OPS+ on the season.

More interestingly, Munetaka Murakami of the Chicago White Sox is absolutely terrorizing baseballs this season with a .938 OPS and twenty (20) home runs. He currently sits at +600.

If Murakami continues to make noise in the AL homerun race, his historic feats might usurp the more well-rounded young hitter up north in Detroit.

Jumping down the list, the player with the greatest increase in probability from opening to current odds is none other than Parker Messick of the Cleveland Guardians. On April 6th, Messick opened at +3000, and after nearly throwing a no-hitter on 4/16 against the Baltimore Orioles, the odds have shifted all the way to +900.

North of the border, former NPB stud Kazuma Okamoto of the Toronto Blue Jays has come closer to finding his stroke at the plate after a horrendous start to the season. The 30 year-old rookie made a drastic change to his batting stance, moving about 2 inches closer and 5-6 inches backwards and the results followed immediately. Okamoto now has 15 homeruns on the season.

Circling back to touch on the AL odds leader, Kevin McGonigle of the Detroit Tigers, fresh off an eight-year, $150 million extension, has slashed .277/.383/.406 through 68 games and has a bright red Savant page to back it up.

Widely considered one of the best predictive offensive metrics, McGonigle boasts a .363 xwOBA, good for the 82nd percentile out of qualified batters this season. Needless to say, BetMGM understands this and will reflect it in his decreasing payout price as the season moves along.

2026 National League Rookie of the Year Odds

Player	Team	Current Odds	Last Week’s Odds	Opening Odds	Implied Probability
Sal Stewart	Cincinnati Reds	+200	+200	+500	33.33%
Konnor Griffin	Pittsburgh Pirates	+1000	+550	+3000	9.09%
Nolan McLean	New York Mets	+550	+600	+340	15.38%
JJ Wetherholt	St. Louis Cardinals	+120	+135	+700	45.45%
Owen Caissie	Miami Marlins	+8000	+8000	+1400	1.23%
Andrew Painter	Philadelphia Phillies	+10000	+10000	+2000	0.99%

It made sense that the already somewhat proven Nolan McLean of the New York Mets would open the season as the odds leader for NL ROTY. However, with a struggling month of May for McLean, he has fallen drastically far out of the ROTY race. In McLean’s last five starts combined, he has gone 24 IP with 17 earned runs allowed and has tanked his season ERA to 4.01 pushing him towards a negative bWAR threshold (0.4).

When Sal Stewart came hot out the gates to start the 2026 season we all thought he would run away with the NL ROTY. That was until he started slumping, allowing others to leap him in the odds. Overall, Stewart has had quite the streaky season so far in 2026, with split confined OPS+ marks bouncing from well above to well below league average on the weekly basis. I.e. (Last 28 Days: 114 sOPS+, Last 7 Days: 72 sOPS+).

Wetherholt, who homered on opening day, had a relatively slow start to the season but has picked it up drastically as of late. He’s up to a 117 OPS+ on the season through 65 games, and has accrued most of his NL rookie leading 2.7 fWAR through elite level defense at second base paired with exceptional baserunning.

Notably, Konnor Griffin (101 OPS+) of the Pirates has seen his odds shift like crazy over the first month of the season. After such a poor start at the plate, Griffin has rebounded nicely to around a league average bat so far. We all know his talent is there, and the 20-year-old, fresh off a massive nine-year, $140 million extension may just need more time under his belt to settle into the league and adjust back to the one of the ROTY favorites BetMGM predicted he would be.

As the season progresses, it’ll be interesting to see who really pulls away from the pack in the NL race. It seemed like just a week ago that McLean would be the guy, but after a few blowup starts the Mets young pitcher has fallen far out of it. That leaves the trio of talented NL Central infielders all neck and neck in the race for the award with plenty of time left to go.

How to Follow the MLB Rookie of the Year Odds

When betting on awards futures, timing is everything. Knowing when it is right to strike is half the battle in making sure you are finding value on the board. Consistently keeping tabs on the odds each week will show you how a player’s market is fluctuating, which can help you find the right time to place your future bet.

At the end of the year, BBWAA voters typically base their criteria on who wins these awards largely on stats, but narrative and team role certainly do factor in. In 2024, a great case could have been made for Jackson Merrill, but the narrative and sensation that was Paul Skenes was too much for him to topple.

Last year, Nick Kurtz mashed his way to win the AL ROTY, while Drake Baldwin took advantage of a relatively weak NL field. Keeping all those aspects in mind can help you pick the right horse in this race.