2017 Awards: MVP

And of course the final of the big postseason awards, the MVP.

American League

Jose Altuve

Jose Altuve led the Houston Astros to one of the best records in baseball. He led the AL in hits, in batting average, WAR, and is a pretty fair second baseman. I think all that will give him the title over Aaron Judge. It may also help that Judge can win the Rookie of the Year Award and my guess is that some writers will vote him the Rookie award and then decide “that’s enough” and slight him for the MVP. They shouldn’t, but someone probably will.

National League

Giancarlo Stanton

Although the Marlins didn’t make the playoffs, without Giancarlo Stanton they might not have gotten to 50 wins (OK, I’ll give the rest of the roster 60 wins). He led the majors in home runs, RBIs, and led the National League in WAR and slugging. Those are the kinds of numbers that get both traditionalists and more modern stat guys attention. I think Nolan Arenado should get a lot of consideration, but my guess is that the Coors Field factor will hurt him a lot (although he didn’t do badly on the road). On a personal note, I loved Joey Votto’s season and would be very happy if he picked up a lot of support. I also think that Goldschmidt will get a lot of support.

As usual, don’t put large bets on my say so.

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2017 Awards: Rookies

Following on my thoughts on the 2017 Manager of the Year Award here’s a look at my picks for Rookie of the Year. It’s the easiest pick.

National League

Cody Bellinger

The nod goes to Cody Bellinger, Dodgers first baseman. He led the National League rookies in homers, which always gets the writer’s attention, and was instrumental in the long streak the team had at mid-season.

American League

Aaron Judge

You expected anyone other than Aaron Judge? He propelled the resurgent Yankees to a wild card slot and set a new record for home runs by a rookie. Of course he also struck out a ton of times.

Both these should be unanimous. Someone out there will probably be in a snit and keep it from being so. They will be wrong.

Judge vs. the Babe

Well, it took long enough, but I finally heard it. Someone the other day on national television compared Aaron Judge to Babe Ruth. I wanted to cry.

Judge

Aaron Judge is a heck of a player–so far. Let’s face it, the kid is a rookie and there have been a ton of rookies who had one great year, the first one. A number of them even won the Rookie of the Year Award then faded into obscurity. I have no idea what will happen to Judge during his career but I do know it is vastly unfair to compare him to the Babe.

The Babe with someone named Gehrig in 1927

Let’s start with a simple question, how good a pitcher is Judge? I could simply leave it at that (but you know I won’t, don’t you?) but I want to remind you that Ruth was possibly the best left-handed pitcher of the 19-teens. Of course in the late teens and in the 1920s he became a hitter and a national phenomena. He maintained a high level of excellence, with a few dips here and there, for almost two decades; first with his arm, then with his bat.

I hate these kinds of comparisons. They almost always hurt the new guy, because he can never, or at least almost never, live up to the hype. So could we simply sit back, enjoy Aaron Judge for what he gives us and also remember Babe Ruth for what he meant to both the country and the sport? It would be better for both Judge and the rest of us.