Jackson Merrill-Paul Skenes debate reveals needed change for Rookie of the Year Award

San Diego Padres fans know that the 2024 National League Rookie of the Year debate should be open and shut. Jackson Merrill has been the best rookie performer in the NL this season, and it's really not even close. Merrill, who was a shortstop by trade, has been the Padres' starting center fielder all season and owns a .286/.316/.492 slash line with 23 home runs on the season.

But there are those fans (and baseball experts and pundits) who want to anoint Pittsburgh Pirates starter Paul Skenes as the new golden boy of Major League Baseball. Make no mistake, Skenes has had a terrific first season in the big leagues with a 2.10 ERA and 32.2% strikeout rate in 20 starts for the Bucs this season.

However, it's difficult to compare the two. Why? Because one is a position player and the other is a pitcher. Merrill isn't going to toe the rubber, no different than Skenes isn't going to step into the batters' box.

Merrill's closest competition on the position player side is probably Jackson Churio of the Milwaukee Brewers, while Chicago Cubs' starter Shōta Imanaga is the only pitcher in the NL who's even close to Skenes' league. So the question that needs to be asked is, why isn't there an award for the best rookie position player and the best rookie pitcher?

Jackson Merrill-Paul Skenes debate reveals needed change for Rookie of the Year Award

To be clear, this isn't the first time that the two best rookies in any given season have been a position player and a pitcher. Corbin Carroll and Kodai Senga finished 1-2 last season in the NL, and Gunnar Henderson won the 2023 AL Rookie of the Year while Tanner Bibee finished runner-up. There were similar results in the NL in both 2021 and 2022 as well.

So why not just eliminate all the silliness and have two separate awards? MLB already does it with the Cy Young and the MVP; though sometimes a pitcher has won the MVP Award. The last one to do it, however, was Clayton Kershaw back in 2014.

The NFL has rookie awards for both offensive and defensive players. The same does not hold true in the NHL or the NBA, because the game dictates that players contribute on both offense and defense.

Obviously, the voting will be what it's going to be this season, and one of either Merrill or Skenes will take home the 2024 Jackie Robinson Award. Seeing as how, under the current system, using WAR is the best way to name the winner, Merrill (4.3 fWAR) should take home the trophy over Skenes (3.6 fWAR). We don't make the rules.

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