re: Paul Skenes ROY no longer a lock?

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We've talked so much about Paul Skenes, and deservedly so. But has Jackson Merrill done enough at this point to supplant Skenes as the National League Rookie of the Year favorite?

He has. I would give him an inside track at finishing the year strong to get him over the edge, because I'm not so sure we're going to see Skenes finish out the year, especially if Pittsburgh falls out of the playoffs; that could hurt him in voting. He's dynamic. It's not apples-to-apples.

When you compare rookies that play every day and a pitcher who's obviously dominating the way he has, I think Skenes would have the advantage if he finished the season and his team got in the playoffs. That would be a feather in his cap. But I think what Jackson Merrill's done and what San Diego's done, that's going to close the gap, if not take the lead, in my opinion, on an everyday impact player.

You touched on my next question: When it's a position player versus an ace in this award, do you personally give the former a bit of an edge since he's out there every day?

I think he should. As a former pitcher, I wish we had awards for each category, pitcher and position player. And ultimately, if you have a Dwight Gooden-type year, you're going to beat any position player unless he wins the triple crown. But I think in today's game, we have impact players that are young, they're making differences for teams. And we're not talking about a platoon rookie. We're talking about a guy in the middle of a playoff run that has been unbelievable of late.

So, there's a lot of that that goes to tie-breaking and, in my opinion, when you have a position player that's close to a dynamic pitcher, the tie-breaker should go to the position player because he's playing and impacting the season way more than a once-every-five-day-type guy. But it shouldn't take away from the greatness of Paul Skenes.

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