MLB 2017: Yankees' Aaron Judge Or Red Sox Andrew Benintendi The Favorite For AL Rookie Of The Year?

The rivalry between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox has taken on a minor twist in 2017, as both teams boast exceptional rookie outfielders. Will the Yankees' Aaron Judge or the Red Sox's Andrew Benintendi win the American League Rookie of the Year award?

As of May 9, the choice is clear: it's Judge.

The Yankees slugger leads the AL with 13 homers in 101 at-bats and is batting an impressive .317 with a .410 on-base percentage. The 25-year-old received a huge compliment from his manager earlier this month.

"He is a little bit like Derek (Jeter), to me," Joe Girardi said of Judge. "He has a smile all the time and loves to play the game. You always think he is going to do the right thing on the field and off the field. You look at it and he has a presence about him. He plays the game to win all the time and that is the most important thing."

Benintendi, 22, is very much still in the mix with a .325 batting average (the fifth-best in the AL) and a .385 on-base percentage. He entered the season as the No. 1 prospect by Baseball America.

A look at their numbers from last season might shed some light on the two outfielders' chances.

Judge wasn't particularly sharp in 84 at-bats. He ended the season with .179/.263/.345 and finished with four homers and 10 RBI. Benintendi fared much better, finishing with .295/.359/476 to go along with two homers and 14 RBI in 105 at-bats.

The big question for both players is how long can they keep this up? In 2015, Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Joc Pederson hit 20 homers in his first three months in the majors and then proceeded to hit five for the next three months as pitchers appeared to make adjustments and as he showed signs of fatigue. Pederson ended up finishing sixth in the National League voting.

With roughly 20 percent of the season gone by, Judge and Benintendi can feel good that at least for now it's a two-player race. There might be an outside chance from Seattle Mariners right fielder Mitch Haniger, who is batting .342 after 79 at-bats. The 26-year-old played for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2016 and finished with five homers and a .229 batting average in 109 at-bats.