Real Salt Lake's Corey Baird wins 2018 AT&T MLS Rookie of the Year

Real Salt Lake forward Corey Baird was named 2018 AT&T MLS Rookie of the Year on Monday after helping lead his team to the Audi 2018 MLS Cup Playoffs.

The Homegrown attacker, and three-time NCAA national champion with Stanford University, forced his way into Mike Petke's plans this season after admitting he figured to spend most of his time with RSL's USL affiliate. Baird scored eight goals and added five assists in 31 appearances, helping lead Real Salt Lake to the teams most points since 2014.

Baird made his MLS debut off the bench in RSL's third game of the season before scoring his first goal in his second appearance, also off the bench, in a loss to Toronto FC. The performances earned Baird his first MLS start the following game, a win over Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

The 22-year-old was tied for third on the team in goals and tied for fifth in assists, a key contributor in his first professional season. He's the first player in the club's history to win the award, beating out Philadelphia Union's Mark McKenzie and Orlando City SC's Chris Mueller.

Real Salt Lake's Corey Baird wins 2018 AT&T MLS Rookie of the Year - https://league-mp7static.mlsdigital.net/images/mls_soccer_20182018-11-05_12-58-02.png

Below is a breakdown of the voting results:

Voting Results

Nominee	Player Vote	Media Vote	Club Vote	Avg
Corey Baird (RSL)	40.12%	47.84%	43.69%	43.88%
Chris Mueller (ORL)	13.47%	13.27%	29.13%	18.62%
Mark McKenzie (PHI)	9.88%	22.84%	12.62%	15.11%
Joao Moutinho (LAFC)	8.98%	4.94%	3.88%	5.93%
Alex Roldan (SEA)	4.79%	4.01%	.97%	3.26%