In Major League Baseball, the Rookie of the Year Award is annually given to one player from each league as voted on by the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA). The award was established in 1940 by the Chicago chapter of the BBWAA, which selected an annual winner from 1940 through 1946. The award became national in 1947; Jackie Robinson, the Brooklyn Dodgers' first baseman, won the inaugural award. One award was presented for both leagues in 1947 and 1948; since 1949, the honor has been given to one player each in the National and American League. Originally, the award was known as the J. Louis Comiskey Memorial Award, named after the Chicago White Sox owner of the 1930s. The award was renamed the Jackie Robinson Award in July 1987, 40 years after Jackie Robinson broke the baseball color line.

Of the 128 players named Rookie of the Year, 14 have been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame—Jackie Robinson, five American League players, and eight others from the National League. The award has been shared twice: once by Butch Metzger and Pat Zachry of the National League in 1976; and once by John Castino and Alfredo Griffin of the American League in 1979. Members of the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers have won the most awards of any franchise (with 16), twice the total of the New York Yankees (eight), who have produced the most in the American League. Fred Lynn and Ichiro Suzuki are the only two players who have been named Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player in the same year, and Fernando Valenzuela is the only player to have won Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young Award in the same year. Sam Jethroe is the oldest player to have won the award, at age 32, 33 days older than 2000 winner Kazuhiro Sasaki (also 32).Craig Kimbrel of the Atlanta Braves and Jeremy Hellickson of the Tampa Bay Rays are the most recent winners.

Rookie of the Year may refer to:

Michael Nelson Trout (born August 7, 1991 in Millville, New Jersey) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Major League Baseball. He debuted with the Angels in 2011.

Trout was considered to be one of the top prospects in all of baseball and was named the second best overall prospect by Baseball America, during their midseason update in July 2010. Prior to the 2011 season, Trout was ranked #1 by ESPN's Keith Law in his 2011 top 100 prospects list. MLB's Jonathan Mayo also named Trout the #1 prospect in all of baseball during MLB Network's airing of MLB's Top 50 Prospects.

Trout's father, Jeff Trout, was a fifth round draft pick by the Minnesota Twins in 1983. Trout began playing baseball in Little League.

Trout attended Millville Senior High School in Millville, New Jersey. Initially a shortstop, Trout shifted to the outfield during his senior year. That year, he hit 18 home runs, a New Jersey high school record.

Trout committed to attend East Carolina University on a baseball scholarship. Though scouted by MLB teams, Trout was passed over by teams in the draft as players from New Jersey typically do not play baseball throughout the year, as they do in warmer states such as California, Texas, and Florida.

Gordon Beckham III (born September 16, 1986 in Atlanta, Georgia) is a baseball infielder, who plays for the Chicago White Sox.

Growing up in Atlanta, Gordon Beckham played quarterback and free safety for The Westminster Schools (like his father, Gordon Beckham Jr., who went on to play quarterback for the University of South Carolina). His mother also attended the University of South Carolina, where she was a cheerleader for both football and basketball. In 2004, Gordon led the Westminster Wildcats to their first and only undefeated season, breaking his father's single-season record for touchdown passes by one in the process. Beckham was given 1st Team All-State honors as both a junior for Free-Safety and then as a senior for Quarterback. He played under coach Gerry Romberg. Beckham was an honorary member of the Chi Phi Fraternity while attending the University of Georgia. Gordon also has two younger sisters, Gwen (22), and Grace (19).

Jeremy Robert Hellickson (born April 8, 1987) is an American professional baseball pitcher with the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball. He was born in Des Moines, Iowa and attended Hoover High School. Following the 2011 season, Hellickson was named American League Rookie of the Year.

Hellickson was drafted by Tampa Bay in the 4th round of the 2005 Major League Baseball Draft. Baseball America rated him as the 18th best prospect in all of baseball going into the 2010 season. He was selected to play in the 2010 All-Star Futures Game and was the starting pitcher for U.S. team.

On August 2, 2010, Hellickson made his major league debut against Minnesota Twins. During his debut, he held the Twins to two runs over seven innings. He struck out six while walking two. He was optioned back to Triple-A Durham after the start. He was once again recalled to the majors on August 10 to take the spot of Wade Davis in the rotation. He made his second career start that day against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park, earning his second career victory after pitching seven shutout innings with three hits, seven strikeouts and no walks as the Rays won 8–0.