While we typically refer to a player’s "rookie season" in the singular, the fact is that players can be rookie eligible in multiple years. And being rookie eligible means being in consideration for rookie awards, too. On Monday, Mets pitcher Nolan McLean became the third player this decade to do something with very little historical precedent: receive Rookie of the Year votes in multiple seasons.
How exactly does that happen? According to MLB rules, a player is considered a rookie unless he has exceeded one of three potential thresholds in any previous season or seasons. Those are: 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched at the MLB level, or 45 total days on an active MLB roster prior to Sept. 1. Already, you can see how a player might end up with eligibility across years -- a September callup, then starting the next year on the Opening Day roster, or any other iteration.
Here are the players who have earned Rookie of the Year votes in multiple seasons.
2025-26: Nolan McLean (NYM)
A former two-way star at Oklahoma State, McLean -- the Mets’ third-round Draft pick in 2023 -- first reached the big leagues in August 2025. Over eight excellent starts, he flashed his excellent stuff on the mound, pitching to a 2.08 ERA with 57 strikeouts in 48 innings of work. Despite the small sample, McLean earned two fifth-place votes for the National League Rookie of the Year Award, tying with the Brewers’ Jacob Misiorowski for 11th place overall.
Just shy of the 50-inning threshold, McLean remained rookie eligible in 2026, which was another strong season for the right-hander with a rare eight-pitch arsenal. He pitched 179 2/3 innings across 31 starts and had a 3.16 ERA, striking out 194. McLean finished fourth in 2026 NL Rookie of the Year voting, drawing six second-place votes and seven third-place votes.
2020-21: Ryan Mountcastle (BAL) and Ian Anderson (ATL)
For the shortened 2020 season, days of service time on the MLB roster counted even extending past Sept. 1, in contrast to in other seasons. If anything, this eliminated more players from being 2020 and ’21 rookies, which, of course, makes sense -- given that the Sept. 1 date didn’t carry the same weight in such a short season. The other added stipulation? Players to win Rookie of the Year in 2020 were ineligible to repeat as winners in 2021, even if they otherwise would have qualified by having not exceeded rookie limits.
But despite all of that, of the 19 players to receive Rookie of the Year votes in 2020 -- or, of the 17 to receive votes but not win -- four players remained rookie eligible in ’21. They didn’t exceed at-bats, innings or service-time limits, and they didn’t win the award the previous year. Those players were: Mountcastle, who got one vote in 2020 and finished tied for eighth in the AL; Anderson, who received one vote and finished tied for seventh in the NL; Ke'Bryan Hayes, who received five votes and finished sixth; and Sixto Sánchez, who received one vote and was tied for seventh.
Sánchez did not pitch in 2021 or 2022, and Hayes missed time in ’21 with injury, so neither received any votes. But Mountcastle finished sixth and Anderson fifth in the AL and NL, respectively.
1988-89: Gregg Jefferies (NYM)
The Rookie of the Year Award has existed since 1947, when Jackie Robinson won the first iteration of the honor. In that span, just one player has received votes for the award in multiple years. To be clear, based on the above, being rookie-eligible in multiple years isn’t too much of an oddity. It happens, for sure. But making enough of an impact in two separate rookie stints, to merit votes twice? That’s rare. The only other player to do this, before 2021, was Gregg Jefferies.
Jefferies played in six games as a September callup in 1987 for the Mets, but his vote-getting story began the next year, in ’88. He was a late-August callup for the Mets that year and played in 29 games, hitting .321 and slugging .596. He received three votes for NL Rookie of the Year and finished tied for sixth as Reds third baseman Chris Sabo won. At that point, Jefferies had 115 career MLB at-bats, with 109 in ’88 and six in ’87. And since the majority of his games had occurred after Sept. 1, he hadn’t reached the service-time limit in either season.
The following year, rookie eligibility still in tow, he made the Opening Day roster and played in 141 games. He hit .258 and got 18 votes this time, finishing third, as Cubs outfielder Jerome Walton won the award in the NL. Another fun detail: also receiving NL Rookie of the Year votes in 1989? Charlie Hayes -- the father of Ke’Bryan, noted above.