15 Most Sensational Rookie Seasons of the Past 10 Years
Karl-Anthony Towns had an incredible rookie season, but where does it rank among the greatest first-year campaigns in American sports from the past decade?
There have been several, to say the least. Cam Newton dominated the NFL in 2011, and the only thing that stopped Mike Trout from taking home MVP hardware his rookie year was the first MLB Triple Crown since 1967.
The following is an attempt to name 15 of the most sensational rookie seasons since 2005-06. As always, it's a challenge to compare statistics across sports, so please keep a few things in mind:
- An effort was made to represent several sports (the four major North American plus golf) as well as various positions within those sports. No one wants to read a list half-full of NFL QBs. (Do they?)
- In addition, in judging each rookie season, much importance was placed on statistics and individual awards. Yes, Andy Dalton went to the playoffs as a rookie, but was his individual performance better than Cam Newton's? Um. Nah.
Jose Fernandez, 2013
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Jose Fernandez won just 12 games with the struggling Miami Marlins in his rookie campaign, but he also recorded a 2.19 ERA and 187 strikeouts in 172.2 innings of work. The only pitcher to post a better ERA that year was Los Angeles Dodgers ace and Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw (1.83).
The only MLB player on this list who did not receive 100 percent of the first-place Rookie of the Year votes, Fernandez received 26 out of 30. The other four went to Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig, who had a stellar season himself, batting .319/.391/.534.
In July 2013, Giancarlo Stanton, Fernandez's Marlins teammate, said, "When you make guys look silly up there, almost like they don't want to get in the box their second or third time, it's fun to watch," per Paul Hagen of MLB.com. Hagen also suggested Fernandez's season might be the greatest ever by a rookie pitcher.
Steve Mason, 2008-09
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As far as NHL goaltenders are concerned, Steve Mason took the rookie cake in 2008-09.
Then the netminder for the Columbus Blue Jackets, Mason won 33 games and posted an NHL-leading 10 shutouts. His 2.29 goals-against average was second-best in the league, and he also put up an impressive .916 save percentage.
Mason, who filled in for the injured Pascal Leclaire early in the season, said, "I never dreamed that it would have come this early," per NHL.com.
Mason received 121 first-place votes for the Calder Trophy and finished fourth in the Hart voting as well.
Adrian Peterson, 2007
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Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson played in 14 games his rookie season and started just nine. Even so, he ran for 1,341 yards on 238 carries, good for a league-leading 95.8 yards per game. He ran for 12 touchdowns and caught one more.
Peterson also ran for 296 yards against the San Diego Chargers in November, a mark that still stands as a single-game NFL record. He received 46.5 out of 50 votes for Offensive Rookie of the Year—the other 3.5 went to Cleveland Browns tackle Joe Thomas.
A special shoutout here goes to Todd Gurley of the Los Angeles Rams. The explosive 2015 Offensive Rookie of the Year posted quite the AP-esque season. He played in 13 games and started 12, running for 1,106 yards on 229 carries. He scored 10 touchdowns and averaged 85.1 yards per game.
In November, Ben Goessling of ESPN.com concluded AP's rookie campaign probably edged out Gurley's but also added, "The fact Gurley is reminding people of Peterson at all, though, puts the rookie in heady company."
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Karl-Anthony Towns, 2015-16
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Only two NBA rookies have averaged a double-double since 2006 (Emeka Okafor and Dwight Howard did it in 2005), and one of them is presumptive 2015-16 Rookie of the Year Karl-Anthony Towns.
The Minnesota Timberwolves' 7-foot center put up 18.3 points and 10.4 rebounds per game in his rookie campaign, averaging 32 minutes per contest. He also tacked on 1.7 blocks per game and shot over 54 percent from the field.
In April, AJ Neuharth-Keusch of USA Today wrote, "Towns wasn't only the best rookie in the NBA this season from start to finish, but he was one of the top centers in the entire league as well. Minnesota struck the gold mine."
Craig Kimbrel, 2011
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It's not often a relief pitcher wins the Rookie of the Year Award. Yet Craig Kimbrel, then with the Atlanta Braves, pulled it off by way of unanimous decision in 2011.
Kimbrel appeared in 79 games and recorded a National League-leading 46 saves (also a new record for rookies). He posted a 2.10 ERA with 127 strikeouts in 77 innings and finished ninth in the Cy Young voting.
Per Joey Nowak of MLB.com, Kimbrel said he was surprised to win by such a wide margin and added, "I want to strive to be as good as I can be. I want to learn hitters the best I can. I want to be in the best shape I can, be in the best throwing shape I can. That's one thing I'm doing this offseason—get back to that point where I can go into 2012 and have a better year than I had in 2011."
He had a 1.01 ERA in 62.2 innings of work in 2012. Yowza.
Robert Griffin III, 2012
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Robert Griffin III was just one of three incredible rookie quarterbacks in the NFL in 2012. The other two were Andrew Luck of the Indianapolis Colts and Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks. Though each is a different type of QB, there's a strong case for Griffin's rookie season in Washington as the best.
RG3 threw for 3,200 yards and 20 touchdowns in 2012, and also ran for 815 yards and seven TDs. He received 29 first-place votes in the Offensive Rookie of the Year voting (Luck and Wilson had 11 and 10, respectively).
Luck threw for 4,374 yards and 23 TDs, and ran for 255 and five. Wilson threw for 3,118 yards and 26 TDs, and ran for 489 and four. Both were impressive. And yet...
Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com wrote, "Griffin was the best option because he was excellent from the very first week. Wilson ultimately wasn't a huge factor in the Seahawks' offense for the first five to six weeks of the season. RG3 also was steadier than Luck, who had a dip in play during the final stretch of the season."
Candace Parker, 2008
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In 2008, Candace Parker of the Los Angeles Sparks won the WNBA Rookie of the Year and MVP Awards—the first player to accomplish both feats in the same season.
She came close to averaging a double-double on the year with 18.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. On top of that, she added 3.4 assists, 1.3 steals and 2.3 blocks per game. She led the league in rebounds per game and double-doubles with 17, and she became just the second player in WNBA history to dunk in a game.
Honorable mention to Tina Charles. In 2010, then with the Connecticut Sun, the 6'4" center averaged a double-double with 15.5 points and 11.7 rebounds per game. At the time, CSN New England reported her 398 total rebounds and 22 double-doubles were both WNBA records.
Ndamukong Suh, 2010
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Defensive stats aren't generally as exciting as their offensive counterparts, but even that can't take away from Ndamukong Suh's incredible rookie year in 2010.
The defensive tackle, then with the Detroit Lions, recorded 10 sacks, the most for any DT in the NFL that year. Other notable stats included 66 tackles, three passes defensed, one forced fumble, one interception and one fumble returned for a touchdown, according to NFL.com. Suh became the first rookie ever to intercept a pass, complete a sack and return a fumble for a TD in the same season.
He took home Defensive Rookie of the Year honors and also became a first-team All-Pro.
Lions assistant coach Gunther Cunningham said, per the Associated Press (via ESPN.com), "There are so many plays that he's made that I just marvel at. We were talking about somebody else in the league as a defensive tackle, and as we're watching tape...I stopped the tape. I said, 'Now, how many guys could do this?'"
Two honorable mentions: Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller (11.5 sacks in 2011) and Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Marcus Peters (league-leading eight interceptions in 2015).
Jordan Spieth, 2013
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After Jordan Spieth won the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year Award in 2013, Kyle Porter of CBS Sports wrote, "The Texan was always going to win the award, some people (myself included) just wish the votes were made public so we could see if anyone even voted for the other three golfers."
Porter also opined Spieth's was better than several recent rookie campaigns—Rickie Fowler in 2010 or Keegan Bradley in 2011, for example.
Spieth, 19 for much of his rookie season, finished in the top 10 nine times, came in second three times and won once. His win at the John Deere Classic made him the youngest player to win a PGA Tour event since 1931, and he was the first player since Tiger Woods to start with no PGA Tour status and end playing in the Tour Championship. He finished the year seventh in the FedEx Cup.
An honorable mention goes to Rory McIlroy, who lost Rookie of the Year to Fowler in 2010. Yet, while Fowler failed to win a tournament, McIlroy won the Quail Hollow Championship and tied for third at two majors (the British Open and PGA Championship).
Jose Abreu, 2014
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Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu stormed onto the MLB scene in 2014, tallying 36 home runs and 107 RBI, and batting .317/.383/.581 (that .581 slugging mark led the majors). He received 100 percent of the first-place votes for American League Rookie of the Year.
According to Jorge L. Ortiz of USA Today, Abreu was the first rookie in MLB history to secure top-five finishes in all three Triple Crown stats.
Per Ortiz, Abreu said, "I don't have any words to describe this moment. I consider myself a good hitter, and I guess I've proven it."
Quick shoutout to Kris Bryant of the Chicago Cubs. He won the National League Rookie of the Year Award unanimously in 2015, but his stats—though incredible—were slightly less boss than Abreu's (.275/.369/.488, 26 home runs, 99 RBI).
Alexander Ovechkin, 2005-06
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There were two incredible rookie performances in the NHL in 2005-06, but Alexander Ovechkin's season was just slightly better than that of his rival, Sidney Crosby.
Ovechkin, then and now a left winger with the Washington Capitals, scored 52 goals and 54 assists for 106 points his rookie season and was a first-team All-Star selection. He scored a legendary goal in January 2006 so incredible that it earned its own nickname: The Goal.
For his part, Crosby, a center for the Pittsburgh Penguins, notched 39 goals and 63 assists for 102 points.
Both had incredible rookie campaigns, and if not for the 2004-05 NHL lockout, one of them would likely have received the Calder Trophy that season. Instead, it was Ovechkin who received 124 of 129 first-place votes in 2005-06.
Tarik El-Bashir of the Washington Post astutely wrote in 2006, "Crosby, 18, had a similarly stellar season, becoming the youngest player to score 100 points. But Ovechkin's scoring flair and board-rattling body checks endeared him to fans and won over the hockey writers, who determine the winner by vote."
Odell Beckham Jr., 2014
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New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. loudly announced his presence in November 2014 with possibly the greatest catch in NFL history.
He went on to win the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award, which was no surprise given his numbers. In just 12 games (11 as a starter), Beckham caught for 1,305 yards and 12 touchdowns. He led the league in yards per game with an incredible 108.8 and received 42 of 50 first-place votes for the award.
Per game, Beckham averaged nine receptions, 133 yards and one touchdown. According to Chris Wesseling of NFL.com, no wide receiver has ever averaged those stats for an entire 16-game season.
NFL Media analyst Mike Mayock said at the time, "I haven't seen a young receiver like this explode this way without much practice time in my entire life," per Wesseling.
Blake Griffin, 2010-11
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The other NBA rookie to average a double-double in the past 10 years was Blake Griffin.
After missing the 2009-10 season because of injury, the Los Angeles Clippers power forward stormed onto the scene in 2010-11 with his high-flying dunks and amazing productivity.
Griffin averaged 22.5 points and 12.1 rebounds per game as a rookie. He was the league's only player to average at least 20 points, 12 rebounds and three assists per game that year.
Per a release from NBA.com, Griffin was also "only the fourth rookie to total at least 1,600 points, 900 rebounds and 250 assists, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1969-70), Elgin Baylor (1958-59) and Sidney Wicks (1971-72)."
Receiving all 118 first-place votes, Griffin was the first unanimous recipient of the NBA Rookie of the Year Award since Hall of Famer David Robinson in 1989-90.
Honorable mention to Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard, who averaged 19 points and 6.5 assists per game in 2012-13, and was also unanimously voted NBA Rookie of the Year.
Cam Newton, 2011
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As impressive as Robert Griffin III was in 2012, Cam Newton was even better the year before.
In 2011, Newton threw for 253.2 yards per game and 21 touchdowns. His 14 rushing TDs set an NFL rookie record. His 4,051 passing yards and 706 rushing made him the first player in NFL history to surpass 4,000 and 500, respectively. He set a record for passing yards by a rookie (Luck surpassed him in 2012), using 83 fewer attempts to reach 3,739 than it took Peyton Manning in 1998, per Mike Florio of NBC Sports.
Newton stepped effortlessly into a leadership role, resurrecting the Panthers from the depths of a 2-14 season in 2010 to a markedly better 6-10 campaign in 2011.
He received 47 of 50 first-place votes for Offensive Rookie of the Year. (Andy Dalton somehow got the other three.)
Mike Trout, 2012
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Wow. That's all anyone can really say about Mike Trout's rookie season.
To start, the Los Angeles Angels outfielder bat .326/.399/.564. He led the majors in runs scored (129) and stolen bases (49). He tallied 30 home runs and 83 RBI, and posted an astonishing 10.8 WAR.
Big shock—he received all of the first-place American League Rookie of the Year votes. And if not for a Miguel Cabrera Triple Crown, he almost certainly would have won the MVP, too.
Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com wrote, "It's not just that Trout was clearly the best rookie in baseball this season. It's that he put together what was arguably the greatest rookie season in history, and that he might have been 2012's best overall player."
All stats from Sports Reference sites unless otherwise noted.
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