A Tight Race For A.L. MVP
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Jacoby Ellsbury for MVP? It's a distinct possibility.
It wasn’t too long ago that the Red Sox had 3 or 4 legitimate candidates for American League MVP honors but Ellsbury is the only one that has continued to distinguish himself to the very end.
Adrian Gonzalez, Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz have all had solid seasons, but they do not stack up to the historic season that Ellsbury is having.
The Red Sox center fielder is hitting .323 with 31 homeruns and 103 RBI. He has 46 doubles, 5 triples and 38 stolen bases with two games remaining in the regular season. Ellsbury has also 117 runs score, an on-base percentage of .378 and a slugging percentage of .553.
He is the first player in Red Sox history to have 30 homeruns and 30 stolen bases in a single season and he has been the lone bright light for Boston in what has otherwise been a dismal September.
The question is: are Ellsbury’s numbers good enough to earn him the A.L. MVP? The short answer to that question is “yes.” However, Ellsbury has some stiff competition in the names of Justin Verlander, Curtis Granderson and Jose Bautista. Whether or not Boston makes it to the postseason may also have an impact on his chances of winning the award.
Verlander may be the front-runner considering what he has done for Detroit this year. The Tigers’ ace leads all of Major League Baseball in wins (24), strikeouts (250), inning pitched (251) and WHIP (0.92). His 2.40 ERA is tops in the American League and third overall in baseball. Pitchers don’t win the MVP award often, but they do when they do when they are having the dominant type of season that Verlander is having.
The Yankees Curtis Granderson is also a serious candidate given what he has done for his team which has the best record in the American League. Granderson is hitting .264 with 41 homeruns and an American League leading 119 RBI. His 135 runs are tops in all of baseball while his .561 slugging percentage ranks third in the AL. What helps Granderson is that he is doing it in New York. What may ultimately prevent him from winning the award is his batting average.
The opposite can be said for the Blue Jays’ Jose Bautista. He is having a great season but it is for a Toronto team that doesn’t get much national exposure in these parts and isn’t going to the playoffs. However, unlike Granderson, there are no holes in Bautista’s numbers. He is hitting .304 with 43 homers and 103 RBI. He leads the Majors in homers (43), walks (128), slugging percentage (.613) and OPS (1.058). Being a Blue Jay is his only crime and it will hurt him in the voting.
If we had to rank the players in a predicted order of finish, it would go something like this:
1. Justin Verlander (Detroit)
2. Jose Bautista (Toronto)
3. Jacoby Ellsbury (Boston)
4. Curtis Granderson (NY)
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