NL Rookie of the Year Futures: Wetherholt, Stewart Leading The Race

The National League Rookie of the Year is a tight race this season, with several impressive young players in the mix for the prestigious honor. We have NL Central players vying for the award, led by JJ Wetherholt. Below, we will dive into the NL Rookie of the Year futures and picks.

Odds courtesy of TonyBet.

NL Rookie of the Year Odds - Outright Winner

Wetherholt is the current frontrunner at MLB betting sites. But Stewart and Griffin aren’t far behind him. Nolan McLean remains a longshot for the award as well amid his solid rookie campaign for the struggling New York Mets.

JJ Wetherholt (+179)

Wetherholt is having a nice season for the Cardinals, already profiling to be a key piece for the future. He’s batting .234 with nine home runs and 25 RBIs, and Wetherholt is third in the big leagues amongst rookies in OBP. He’s only struck out 44 times in 54 games so far while drawing 28 walks. While his offensive statistics don’t jump off the page, Wetherholt has tremendous plate discipline, and he evidently knows how to get on base. Wetherholt is also one of the premier defenders at his position in the show.

Sal Stewart (+200)

We shift from one infielder to another. Stewart has been an integral player for the Cincinnati Reds in 2026, and he’s second among qualified rookies in home runs, smacking 12. He only trails Munetaka Murakami, who has gone deep 20 times. Stewart started off the campaign on absolute fire, with nine of his 12 bombs through the first two months of the season. He’s cooled down since, batting just .226 in May. Overall, the 22-year-old is hitting .265, and he ranks 16th in the big leagues in RBIs with 37. Stewart was an early favorite for ROTY, and he still has every chance to win the award.

Konnor Griffin (+299)

The Pittsburgh Pirates clearly believe Konnor Griffin is special, considering they handed him a nine-year, $140 million deal before he even made his MLB debut. While he has a long way to go to actually live up to that massive contract, he’s on the right path. The 20-year-old is hitting an impressive .268, and after a slow April, he’s really heated up in May, batting .292. The shortstop has four home runs and 21 RBIs. Griffin is showing flashes of brilliance lately, and once he consistently puts it all together, it’s going to be a scary sight. The youngster cannot be counted out in the NL Rookie of the Year race.

Nolan McLean (+998)

McLean was a lot higher in the NL Rookie of the Year odds only a few weeks ago, but his struggles lately have hurt the right-handed starter. McLean has a 6.92 ERA in May, and he’s allowed 13 earned runs across his last two appearances. McLean’s ERA now sits at 4.40. He has quite the job ahead of him to make a case for actually winning Rookie of the Year before the aforementioned names, but it’s not impossible. There are still several months left in the regular season.

NL Rookie of the Year Futures Picks

As you can see, there’s really no clear favorite. With several players owning plus odds, the best move right now is to put money down on a couple of different rookies. Wetherholt can truly do it all, and he will continue to be one of the frontrunners. I’m also confident that Griffin will be in the ROTY race until the very end as he starts to heat up and find his comfort in the bigs.

Picks: JJ Wetherholt (+179), Konnor Griffin (+299) /TonyBet