By Ryan Henry
It’s getting close to the end of the season, which means
that it is time to look at those in the running for MVP honors. In both the AL
and NL there are two that distill to the top and a few that are fighting to
stay in the conversation. First, let’s
take a look at the AL race.
American League
1.
The first person you have to talk about when
considering the AL MVP is the Angels’ Mike Trout. He currently leads the league
in four statistical categories: batting average at .346, stolen bases (33),
runs (86) and OPS+ (182). On top of that, he is sitting at an absurd 6.7
wins-above-replacement (WAR) according
to Fangraphs.com. He is playing for a contender, and could very well be the
third player to win both rookie of the year honors to go alongside his MVP
trophy, which would also go nicely alongside his likely Gold Glove.
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| photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Angels |
2.
Next up is Robinson Cano. He was a finalist for
this award last year, and would have won it had Josh Hamilton not had the
monster year he did. Unfortunately for Cano, it looks like he will fall victim
a second time to somebody having a career year, and the distinct anti-Yankee
culture that pervades MVP voters. Cano is sitting at 5.1 WAR, currently second
behind the aforementioned Mike Trout. Additionally he is hitting .313 (tops among
second basemen), 24 home runs (also tops among second basemen) and 64 RBIs
(second among second basemen). Cano also has the advantage that his team will
probably be playing in the postseason, while it remains to be determined if the
Halos will even be there.
3.
If Trout doesn’t make the playoffs and the
voters really hate the Yankees as much as it seems, then Miguel Cabrera could
find himself hoisting MVP honors. He has been on an absolute tear this year
batting .325 with 27 HRs and 91 RBIs. He currently site second in the AL in
batting average, first in RBIs and third in slugging percentage. He is also third
in AL in WAR at 4.8. Despite all this, voters may be turned off by the fact
that he may not even be the MVP of his own team, as Austin Jackson is having a
similarly ridiculous statistical season.
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| photo courtesy of the Detroit Tigers |
National League
1.
Ryan Braun is an absolute beast. He leads the NL
in HRs with 29 and is tied for third in RBIs with 74. He is putting these
numbers up while playing for a Brewers team that has very little going for
them. However, the reigning NL MVP was the subject of some controversy
regarding performance enhancing drugs in the offseason. These allegations
coupled with the fact that Braun isn’t on a contending team (the Brewers are 8
games under .500) could be the perfect storm to ensure that he doesn’t repeat.
2.
The biggest threat to Braun (other than the PED
allegations) is Andrew McCutchen. He is hitting an out of this world .373 for
the season, a full 25 percentage points ahead of rookie phenom Trout. McCutchen
gets on base 43.1% of the time, trailing only the injured Joey Votto in that
category and leads the majors in slugging percentage at .628. To top it all
off, he leads the NL in WAR at 6.1. He has made the Pirates a contender. The
only reason I rank Braun above McCutchen is because he has had some help in the
form of Garrett Jones, Neil Walker, Pedro Alvarez and the recently acquired
Travis Snider. This looks like the year that the Pirates end their playoff
drought, and McCutchen should benefit from it.
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| photo courtesy of the Pittsburgh Pirates |
3.
Melky Cabrera hits singles. He hits a lot of
singles. He is hitting .348 but only has 10 HRs. His OPS is a ridiculous .998,
while his wOBA (weighted on-base average) sites 8th in the National
League at .396. He is an offensive equivalent of a Rolex watch. You can count
on him getting to first base two to three times a game. The problem is that he
may not even be the best offensive player on his team. If McCutchen gets points
taken off because he has help, then Cabrera is in trouble. Buster Posey is also
having a career year, and is one of the reasons that opponents can’t pitch
around Cabrera. And, while Cabrera is doing exceptionally well getting on-base,
he doesn’t do as good of a job as either of the other two in this list.
If the voting ended tomorrow, I would give it to Trout and
McCutchen. Trout is having a one-of-a-kind type season and the allegations of
Ryan Braun are too severe to justify giving him an MVP, especially since
baseball likes to shy away from controversy. Any of these six candidates are
deserving of the award, and the last quarter of this baseball season promises
to be an exciting one either way.
