The Athletic snubs Royals’ rising star of well-deserved AL ROY finalist recognition

While the Kansas City Royals’ season hasn’t gone how most fans would have liked – especially in September – there are still some individual performances to be celebrated. Maikel Garcia and Vinnie Pasquantino have finally had their breakout seasons. And then there’s rookie pitcher Noah Cameron.

Cameron came out of nowhere this summer as an emergency fill-in who ended up pitching like one of the best hurlers of the year. Once he showed that he wasn’t a one-hit wonder, he started getting mentioned by various analysts as a possible dark-horse AL Rookie of the Year. However, there’s at least one analyst who isn’t convinced he got there.

As the regular season starts to wind down, MLB insider Jim Bowden put together his list of top candidates in several different award categories for The Athletic. When it came to who he thinks will be the top three for AL ROY, the Kansas City Royals rookie didn’t make the cut.

Noah Cameron snubbed from AL Rookie of the Year conversation by national analyst

Bowden listed Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz, Red Sox Roman Anthony, and then Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jack Leiter as the third finalist.

“Leiter is having a breakout season thanks to significant improvement of his command of his four-seam fastball, which sits in the high-90s, and batters are hitting .197 against it. His slider has late tilt and movement, and his changeup has also been an effective weapon.”

Leiter currently has a 9-9 record with a 3.82 earned run average and 134 strikeouts over 139 innings. Cameron, meanwhile, boasts an 8-7 record with a 2.98 ERA and 103 strikeouts in 127 innings for the Kansas City Royals.

It seems likely that Bowden is giving Leiter the nod because he opened the season with the big league club. He definitely does have more experience than Noah Cameron. Still, outside of more starts, there’s no real reason to go with the Rangers’ rookie over the Royals’ offering.