Is TJ Rumfield a Rookie of the Year Candidate?

In light of TJ Rumfield’s recent showing, I was thinking about a recent article that suggested the Colorado Rockies first baseman is making an NL Rookie of the Year case for himself.

That claim seemed to me worth investigating — I mean, he’s been good for the Rockies, but is he good enough to be mentioned in conversations like these? Let’s start by examining what Rumfield has accomplished so far this year and then compare him to his peers.

(All numbers are current as of Wednesday, May 13.)

TJ Rumfield

Certainly, the numbers are compelling.

Among all qualified rookies, Rumfield is tied for second in games played (42), second in hits (43), fourth in batting average (.277), and fifth in RBI (22). Moreover, his five three-hit games are the most on the club, the most among rookies, and tied for the second-most in the Majors.

Plus, he leads the Rockies in hits (43) and multiple-hit games (11). With RISP, he‘s batting .263 (10-38) with no homers but 15 RBI.

However, the splits are real.

Against LHP, Rumfield is hitting .194 (7-36) with no home runs. Against RHP, though, it’s a different story. In that scenario, he’s hitting .303 (36-119) with six homers and 20 RBI.

Like Mickey Moniak, then, there are some limitations in Rumfield’s game.

Still, Rumfield has been good for a marginal Rockies team, but how does he compare to the rest of baseball?

The early NL ROY field

As it turns out, MLB.com dropped a ROY poll two days ago, so there’s some speculation to work with. Here are, in order, the poll’s top NL ROY candidates:

• Nolan McLean (Pitcher, New York Mets)
• Sal Stewart (Infielder, Cincinnati Reds)
• JJ Wetherholt (Second baseman, St. Louis Cardinals)
• Konnor Griffin (Shortstop, Pittsburgh Pirates)
• Moisés Ballesteros (Catcher, Chicago Cubs)

I should add that McLean was the overwhelming favorite of those polled.

It’s easier to compare position players (which I’ll get to in a minute) than it is position players to pitchers, so I’ll begin the discussion of McLean’s case by quoting the article’s author, Jason Foster:

McLean made his MLB debut last August and was quite impressive: 5-1 with a 2.06 ERA in five starts. He threw just 48 innings, keeping his rookie eligibility intact through this season. And, so far, he's looked a lot like the guy we saw at the end of 2025. Through Sunday, McLean led all qualified NL rookie pitchers in strikeouts (57), K/9 ratio (11.32), WHIP (0.90) and opponents' average (.180). Meanwhile, his 2.78 ERA ranked second. He's been a very bright spot for the Mets in a season that, so far, hasn't had many.

Since there are no other pitchers on the ROY lists, it seems fair to compare McLean against his fellow MLB starting pitchers. Here are the numbers, per FanGraphs:

By any metric, McLean is having an exceptional season. Consider, for example, his 11.32 K/9, especially in concert with his 2.38 BB/9.

He’s already amassed 1.5 fWAR, twelfth-most among starting pitchers. So McLean isn’t just pitching well against other rookie staters; rather, he’s holding his own with the base in MLB right now.

And now to the position players.

Let’s start with a basic FanGraphs search. I’ve added Rumfield to compare him with other candidates.

What’s notable? First, Wetherholt is significantly better than his peers. He doesn’t have as much power as Stewart, but he’s able to get on base. (His 10.9 BB% and 17.1 K% are impressive.) He’s second in home runs among this group as well.

By these standards, Rumfield’s accomplishments are rather modest. He has the lowest K% of this group, but only Griffin has fewer walks. His OBP comes in third, but his 0.5 fWAR bests only that of Ballesteros.

Consider, then, the defensive numbers:

Here, again, Rumfield does not stand out among his peers. He has a positive DRS, but barely, and he has a negative Def score. There’s just nothing that distinguishes Rumfield among this group.

And the winner is . . .

At this point — and we’re only at the quarter pole of the 2026 MLB season — the contest appears to be between McLean and Wetherholt. How that plays out over the course of the season will be a story to watch.

However, it’s difficult to make a case for TJ Rumfield as part of this group — even though he is mentioned at the end of Foster’s article as a possible candidate.

That said, for a rebuilding Rockies team struggling to fire up the offense, Rumfield is a bright spot. Currently, his 0.5 fWAR ties him with Troy Johnston as the third best among Colorado Rockies. (If you’re interested, Mickey Moniak has the highest fWAR at 1.7 while Hunter Goodman’s 0.7 fWAR is second.)

For the rest of MLB, Rumfield’s season (so far) is solid but unremarkable.

Closing thoughts

That’s it for this week.

The Rockies will return to Coors Field this weekend to take on the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers. Surely, all eyes will be on Chase Dollander who left yesterday’s game in the second inning with “right arm tightness.”

As always, thanks for reading —

Renee

Rockies Pitch is a newsletter that focuses on Colorado Rockies baseball.

Find me on Bluesky at @ReneeDechert.com or send an email to Renee@RockiesPitch.com