Carter

Jensen

McGonigle received 28 of 30 first-place votes to claim the hardware, with Parker Messick collecting the other two to finish a distant second in the balloting. Payton Tolle placed third, narrowly ahead of Munetaka Murakami and Carter Jensen. The 22-year-old on-base machine set the tone with a four-hit performance on Opening Day and never looked back, finishing the season with a sublime .278/.376/.430 slash line, 97 runs scored, 18 homers, 72 RBI and 12 steals across 707 plate appearances over 156 games. He provided top-10 fantasy value at both shortstop and third base, cementing his status as an early-round selection in drafts for years to come.

Jensen had started behind the dish and hit leadoff in each of the team’s last five games, so he certainly earned a day off. Luke Maile will start in his place behind the dish and will bat ninth against Guardians’ left-hander Parker Messick on Sunday afternoon in Kansas City.

Quickly growing into one of the best power hitting catchers in the league, Jensen is ending his season on a heater. Two more home runs gave him 27 in total to go along with 33 doubles and two triples. Those 62 extra-base hits pushed him ahead of Mike Piazza’s 61 in 1993 for the most all-time by a rookie catcher. Don’t let this monster rookie season go unnoticed in what’s been an otherwise awful season for the Royals.

Jensen drew a walk to open the game and came around to score the first run as Maikel Garcia bounced into a double play. His single in the sixth inning was their first hit in the contest. He also delivered a run-scoring single in the eighth inning that pulled the Royals to within three runs at 5-2. With the two-hit attack, the 23-year-old backstop is now hitting .235/.322/.454 with 24 homers, 75 RBI and two stolen bases across 571 plate appearances.

It’s a bit surprising to see Caglianone taking a seat against righty Cristian Javier, but he’s been playing through a flexor strain in his elbow, which has basically limited him to DH. It’ll be Salvador Perez drawing back into the lineup in that spot with Carter Jensen, who is one homer away from breaking Kansas City’s single-season rookie home run record, handling the catching duties.

Jensen provided the Royals with their only run of the day as they were dominated by Ranger Suarez. The 23-year-old slugger took Suarez deep for a solo homer in the sixth inning for his fifth in September. He’s up to 24 with 73 runs and 71 RBI while slashing .231/.318/.452 across 556 plate appearances.

Jensen doubled to start the game and came around to score a few batters later on an RBI single by Salvador Perez. In the third inning, Jensen again doubled, this time driving in Isaac Collins to push the Royals’ lead to 2-0, and later came around to score to push the lead to 3-0. Jensen has hit safely in back-to-back games and has 11 extra-base hits in September.

Jensen got the Royals on the board in the third inning with an RBI triple off of right-hander Sandy Alcantara. He then scored on an RBI double off the bat of Jac Caglianone. The 23-year-old backstop then pulverized a first-pitch slider from Alcantara for a 440-foot (108.4-mph EV) two-run blast in the fifth inning that put the Royals ahead to stay. He also led off the eighth inning with a double and scored on an RBI single by Caglianone. With his monster evening at the plate, Jensen is now hitting .231/.316/.442 with 22 homers, 67 RBI and two stolen bases over 525 plate appearances on the season.

There’s just something about Jensen in September. August was a rough month for him with a .165 batting average, but now he’s gone 4-for-8 through two September contests with two home runs and a double. Going back to last season, he debuted in early September and lit the league on fire with a .941 OPS that month. Jensen simply loves hitting in September and could get hot enough to be a key contributor for our fantasy teams this month.

Jensen pushed the Royals out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the ninth inning when he blasted a two-run homer off of Guardians reliever Craig Yoho. It was the 19th homer of the season for Jensen, who has struggled in August. He’s slashing a disappointing .167/.330/.333 on the month but has drawn 17 walks.