LAS VEGAS — Kevin McGonigle won the hardware.
But the Tigers might’ve won something even more valuable.
With Kevin McGonigle being named the American League’s rookie of the year by the Baseball Writers Association of America on Monday, Nov. 9, the Tigers officially have secured an additional high pick in the 2027 Major League Baseball Draft.
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The prize is part of MLB’s Prospect Promotion Incentive (PPI) program, which was installed with the 2022 Collective Bargaining Agreement as an incentive for teams to promote prospects sooner rather than keep them stayed away longer in the minor leagues to delay the start of a player’s free-agent clock.
Under the rules of the PPI program, for a team to collect a draft pick, a player must accrue a year’s worth of service time on an active major-league roster (172 days) and either win the rookie of the year or finish top three in the Cy Young or Most Valuable Player voting.
McGonigle made the Tigers’ Opening Day roster this year, despite not having played above Double-A ball. He had four hits on Opening Day and never looked back, spending the entire season on the Tigers’ roster.
McGonigle hit .278/.376/.430 with 18 home runs, 72 RBIs and 12 stolen bases, while playing solid defense splitting his time between third base and shortstop. His 7.1 WAR was the highest among the Tigers, and he ended up being the runaway winner for rookie of the year, receiving 28 of 30 first-place votes. He was the sixth Tiger to win the award, the first since Michael Fulmer in 2016, and the first Tigers position player to win the award since Lou Whitaker in 1978.
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More: Kevin McGonigle, likely AL rookie of year, gives Tigers prospects hope
McGonigle, 22, was a first-round draft pick (No. 37 overall) in 2023, and now he possibly has netted the Tigers the next McGonigle. Detroit’s PPI pick will come after the first round, and it will be the Tigers’ second pick of the 2027 draft. The Tigers will draft somewhere in the top 18, pending the lottery drawing, after they missed the playoffs in 2026.
Before this year, six major-league teams have been awarded an extra draft pick through the PPI program. Sal Stewart also earned the Cincinnati Reds a PPI pick after winning National League rookie of the year Monday.
The rookie-of-the-year award caps a wild year for McGonigle, who in April, just 17 games into his major-league career, signed an eight-year, $150-million contract with the Tigers. He went on to be named the Tiger of the Year, by the members of the Detroit BBWAA chapter.
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Monday’s awards kicked off a busy week for MLB, which is holding its general managers meetings at Aria in Las Vegas, starting Tuesday. Manager of the year winners will be announced Tuesday, Cy Young and relievers of the year will be announced Wednesday, and MVPs will be announced Thursday.
tpaul@detroitnews.com
@tonypaul1984
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Kevin McGonigle’s big award won the Tigers an even bigger prize
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
