Liz Barr: Can Juan Soto win NL Rookie of the Year?

Let's think about awards, shall we? Individual awards are the main things going for Nationals for the rest of the season, and individual accomplishment cannot be overlooked, no matter what the team is doing.

Now the question that's been on everyone's mind for the past few months: Can Juan Soto win National League Rookie of the Year?

The automatic thought is yes, he can. For the longest time, Soto appeared to be a shoe-in for Rookie of the Year. He was tearing up the league like no one else, and he was doing things that no teenager has ever done before. He's still hitting well and producing for the Nationals, but now he has some competition.

In 89 games, Soto has a .289 average, .413 OBP, .931 OPS, 15 home runs, 17 doubles, 44 RBIs, 56 runs and 59 walks. Among NL rookies, Soto ranks first in walks, OBP and OPS; second in runs and batting average; and in the top four in the rest of the listed categories. And Soto did this all while playing in fewer games than all but two qualified NL rookies.

Soto's two major competitors are Ronald Acuña Jr. of the Braves and Brian Anderson of the Marlins. Acuña has made a big splash this season, and Nats fans know this especially well, as he plays for a division rival. In 74 games, Acuña has a .286 average, .352 OBP, .910 OPS, 19 home runs, 19 doubles, 43 RBIs, 53 runs, and 26 walks. Acuña has the least games played of all qualified rookies, though it should be noted he did miss a chunk of time due to injury. Acuña's stats are about even with Soto in average, RBIs and runs; Acuña has a few more doubles and home runs, while Soto has astronomically more walks, and thus has a significantly higher OBP and slightly higher OPS.

Unlike Soto and Acuña, who joined their teams partway through the season, Anderson has been a mainstay in the Marlins lineup all year and has played in all but one game this season. He does also have the advantage of appearing in 25 games last season, unlike his two competitors, who made their debuts this season. He far and away leads all rookies in games played and at-bats this year, and thus also leads in hits (135), doubles (26), runs (66), and RBIs (54). Part of the accumulation of stats can be attributed to the vast amount of playing time, though the longevity does help his case for the award. He is also second in walks (49) to Soto. His power and his slash line have suffered, and they're not as impressive as that of Soto and Acuña. He only has nine home runs, and he has a .267 average, .355 OBP and .751 OPS.

Anderson is an under-the-radar candidate for Rookie of the Year, mainly because the Marlins are way out of it and he isn't getting any media coverage for what he's doing. But he's been a regular for the Marlins all season, and if he gets that power up and raises the batting average a little, he could really challenge the high-powered Soto and Acuña for the award.

Soto has a strong case for NL Rookie of the Year, but it's not going to be a given, and he's not going to moonwalk into it. He has some very strong competition also vying for the hardware. If he wants it, he's going to have to step up and work for it. Can Soto produce consistently for the last month of the year and beat his competitors? History tells me yes, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Liz Barr blogs about the Nationals for The Nats Blog. Follow her on Twitter: @RaiseTheBarr1. Her opinions on the Nationals will appear here as part of MASNsports.com's initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our little corner of cyberspace. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.