Division rival slugger is making himself a serious threat to Kevin McGonigle's RoY campaign

Through his first 28 major league games, Kevin McGonigle leads American League rookies in almost every metric: runs scored (22), average (.330), OBP (.423), fWAR (1.5), and so on. Decades before he'll even be eligible, baseball writers are calling him a Hall of Famer. His 24-game on-base streak is the longest for any Tigers hitter 21 or younger since Al Kaline in 1956.

Tigers fans know we've got something special on our hands, but another AL rookie could bamboozle voters by the end of the season to steal McGonigle's Rookie of the Year crown.

Munetaka Murakami currently leads baseball in homers, having hit his 12th on Monday night. The White Sox still ... aren't good — fourth place in the AL Central with a -28 run differential — but Murakami is proving his doubters wrong. There were concerns his power wouldn't translate to the majors, and clearly it has.

Murakami has the edge over McGonigle in home runs, of course, but also RBI, and he's been a better defensive first baseman than McGonigle has been at shortstop or third base so far. Home runs aren't everything, but voters certainly love them.

Munetaka Murakami's MLB-leading homers could be enough for him to edge out Kevin McGonigle for AL Rookie of the Year

There's still a lot of season to go, and while we're obviously biased, McGonigle's success seems more sustainable than Murakami's. The latter has walked more than anyone expected him to but is also whiffing just as much as everyone expected him to. He clearly has some massive strength and the ability to punish opposing pitchers' mistakes, but he's had a lot of trouble with breaking balls and the league should adjust accordingly.

McGonigle is the more complete player. He almost never whiffs and doesn't chase much more, and he's on pace to walk 92 times and strike out 84 times, something only six major league players have done at age 21 or younger since 1906 — all of whom are Hall of Famers. His defense has been up-and-down, but fans have seen enough to know there's growth to come there.

We're just waiting for Murakami to come back down to earth, at which point we won't have to think twice about McGonigle picking up his first piece of hardware at the end of the season. If Murakami somehow stays this good ... well, we'll worry about that if we get there.

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