2023 AL Rookie of the Year odds: Rangers' Josh Jung current favorite, but Red Sox outfielder Masataka Yoshida taking most action

We are only into mid-June, but the NL Rookie of the Year race might be over with Arizona outfielder Corbin Carroll a heavy -500 favorite at BetMGM. The award is all but his to lose, barring injury. The AL race, though, is wide open with Texas third baseman Josh Jung the +225 betting favorite, but the sportsbook is hugely exposed on Boston outfielder Masataka Yoshida at +250 with 29.2% of the tickets and 25.9% of the wagers coming in on Yoshida -- both the highest rates of any AL player.

There are no age limits to win Rookie of the Year – Yoshida, who had been playing professionally for years in Japan, will turn 30 on June 15. Yoshida has himself said that he doesn't want to be considered for the award because of how much experience he has from his time playing with the Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball.

He's hitting .302 with seven homers, 36 RBI and an OPS of .848 with Boston. Many around the majors were puzzled why the Sox vastly overshot the market to sign him for five years and $90 million, considering his supposed lack of power. Yoshida is a four-time NPB All-Star and the winner of two Pacific League batting titles.

The power concerns have proven to be mostly overblown, considering he's on pace to finish just shy of 20 homers -- some had forecasted Yoshida as a slappy singles hitter at the MLB level. Yoshida ranks second in the AL with 25 multi-hit games and is hitting better than .345 since April 20 (he was at .187 through his first 14 games for Boston), among the league leaders. Of the 19 Japanese hitters to make the transition to MLB, only six have posted a career OPS above league average. Yoshida's 131 OPS+ is the second highest ever behind Shohei Ohtani. It's a small sample size, to be sure.

Yoshida and the Red Sox look for a second straight upset win at the Twins on Tuesday – he was 0-for-5 in Monday's 9-3 victory. He's never faced Minnesota's starting pitcher, Bailey Ober (4-3, 2.65 ERA). Yoshida is +550 to go yard on Tuesday and -225 to record a hit.

The Sox have had six AL Rookies of the Year, the most recent being second baseman Dustin Pedroia in 2007. Also still in the hunt with Jung and Yoshida are Baltimore's Gunnar Henderson (+425) and Houston pitcher Hunter Brown (+700). No one else is below +2200. 

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