2025 was the year of the DTBL rookie pitcher. Three of them were selected in the first round of the draft, including the first overall pick. And all three of those pitchers had monster debut seasons in this league. Paul Skenes lived up to the hype and then some as the first pick of the draft by the Cougars. Yoshinobu Yamamoto was probably the biggest steal of the draft with the last pick of the first round by the defending champion Mavericks. One pick before him, the Moonshiners selected Garrett Crochet who was on a DTBL roster three years ago, but did not make an appearance on an active roster, preserving his rookie eligibility. Three years later, the hard throwing southpaw is the 2025 DTBL Rookie of the Year.
Crochet took one of the more unique paths to winning the DTBL Rookie of the Year award you will ever see. He made his MLB debut with the White Sox in the covid shortened 2020 season just three months after being drafted and having never pitched in a minor league game because of the pandemic. He then spent the 2021 season in the bullpen for the Sox before being added to the DTBL roster as a relief pitcher in 2022. The Jackalope selected him in the seventh round in ’22. Unfortunately, he blew out his elbow that spring not long after being drafted and missed the entire season following Tommy John surgery. When he returned to action, he was nothing more than a mid-leverage reliever for the Sox until they took a chance and moved him into the rotation in 2024. That was a smashing success, despite playing for one of the worst teams in baseball history. Following that season, he was traded to Boston and reinstated to the DTBL roster as a starting pitcher. 4 1/2 years after making his MLB debut, the Moonshiners selected him with the ninth pick in the 2025 Draft.
As well as Crochet’s first go-round as a starting pitcher went in 2024, his follow up campaign in Boston was even better. He led the league with 255 strikeouts, the second highest total ever by a Moonshiner, trailing only Kerry Wood in 2003. He finished second in the league with 18 wins and was also among the league’s best in ERA (2.59) and WHIP (1.03). Perhaps most impressively, he threw the second most innings of any pitcher in the league with 205, almost 60 more than his previous career high the year prior. His 13.7 Pitching PAR trailed only his fellow left handed Moonshiners teammate Tarik Skubal. Skubal and Crochet give the Moonshiners an embarrassment of riches in their rotation as probably the two best southpaws in the game right now. They were largely responsible for keeping the Moonshiners in the championship race until the end, finishing in second place when it was all said and done. Both of those guys will be among the top contenders for the Cy Young award as well.
The Rookie of the Year vote always figured to be a tight race between Crochet and Skenes, in particular. Crochet had a slight edge over Skenes in PAR, primarily thanks to his advantage in wins and strikeouts. However, it remained to be seen if some might give Skenes the nod due to his superior ratios, and maybe some would hold Crochet’s rookie eligibility technicality against him. Not many did. Crochet garnered eight of the ten first place votes plus a pair of seconds to finish with 94 points. Skenes received the other two first place votes and eight seconds for a total of 76 points. So this pair was 1-2 on all ten ballots. The Cougars young ace led the league with a 1.97 ERA in his DTBL debut, while also accumulating a WHIP under 1 (0.95) and 216 strikeouts. The NL Cy Young award winner should be a candidate for that award in this league too, however it probably doesn’t bode well for him relative to Crochet with the results of this ROY vote. The third place finisher was the other part of the trio of first round pitchers in this year’s draft. Yamamoto was a big reason why the Mavericks were able to win their second straight DTBL title. He was one of three Mavericks pitchers to put up a 10+ Pitching PAR season. That was all before becoming the Dodgers World Series hero. With Clayton Kershaw now gone, Yamamoto figures to fill his void as the Dodgers star in the Mavericks rotation for years to come. He received seven third place votes and was the only player besides Crochet and Skenes to appear on all ten ballots, finishing with 40 points. The top finishing position player is Jackalope outfielder Jackson Chourio, picked second in the draft. Chourio led all DTBL rookies with 5.1 Batting PAR, while showcasing power and speed with a matching 21 in the home run and stolen base columns. He garnered three third place votes and 31 total points. Rounding out the top five is another first round pick from this year’s draft, Komodos outfielder James Wood. Wood looked like a strong candidate to win this award around mid-season. However, he had a rough second half, marred by contact issues. It should still go down as a very successful debut for the 23 year old slugger. He led all rookies with 31 homers. His 17 voting points put him fifth in this tally. So half of the players drafted in the first round in March wound up finishing in the top five of the DTBL Rookie of the Year vote. A lot of teams are no doubt happy with their selections not only for what they provided this year, but their bright futures as well.
Click here to view the full voting results.
Sorry I am a bit tardy with these award announcements. I wanted to get it started last weekend, but ultimately decided to hold it for this week when I have considerably more free time. I intend to announce the Cy Young award winner tomorrow and then the Most Valuable Player on Wednesday. The Cy Young race figures to involve several of the names mentioned in this article. We’ll see who came out on top soon.