Baseball’s MVPs of the Mid-Season

There isn’t much value to winning an imaginary MVP award from a baseball blog, but some recognition is deserved for some of baseball’s best players this season. Whether it’s Adrian Gonzalez continued domination or Jose Reyes rebound season, 2011 has been an entertaining season from the most successful players to those who have underwhelmed (yes, that means you Dan Uggla).

Mid-Season Winners: Managers | Rookies | Cy Young | MVP

AL MVP of the Mid-Season

Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays
Bautista is on pace for 125 runs, 175 hits, 26 doubles, 52 homers, 110 RBIs and .335/.468/.687/1.154. He’s a legit contender for a Triple Crown (1st in HR, 6th in RBI and 2nd in BA) and while that’s a stretch, competing for one is still impressive. After slumping a bit in early June, Bautista has gone on a tear of seven home runs and 14 RBIs in the last two weeks. And how about that 19.6 percent walk rate? Looks like pitchers are scared and for good reason. For all my sabermetrics lovers out there, I haven’t forgotten about you. Bautista’s 211 wRC+ is the highest total of any player in the past decade (excluding a cheating Barry Bonds). If that stat doesn’t mean anything to you, the career leader, Babe Ruth, had an average 197 wRC+ per year. To learn a more about wRC+, go here. So if you’re outperforming The Great Bambino in such a comprehensive statistic, you definitely deserve a tip of the cap and then some.

Honorable mention: Adrian Gonzalez, Boston Red Sox
Everybody knows Gonzalez has been lighting it up in the last few months but I think he has a lot of room for improvement. He’s swinging at everything and has a near career-low walk rate of 8.1 percent. He’s swinging at 36.5 percent of pitches outside the strike zone, nearly 10 points higher than his career average. But I’m nitpicking, between he and Miguel Cabrera, I think both guys can only try to keep up with Bautista. For those keeping track at home, Gonzalez’s wRC+ is 167 (Cabrera 172) and that really says it all. Nonetheless, Gonzalez is sitting at .348/.405/.583/.989 which rank 1st in the AL, 3rd, 3rd and 3rd, respectively. Not bad for the second-best player in the AL.

NL MVP of the Mid-Season

Matt Kemp, Los Angeles Dodgers
It’s funny to me when people try to argue that Matt Kemp isn’t the best player in the NL this season (or possibly even in all of baseball). And in fact, he’s definitely the best player in Fantasy baseball simply because he can steal bases and Bautista doesn’t. Maybe he hasn’t done it long enough, I’m not sure what it is. But let me just make a list of the stats where he’s in the NL top 10: runs, hits, HRs, RBIs, walks, intentional walks, stolen bases, BA, OBP, SLG, OPS, wOBA, wRC+, WAR, ISO, SPD, BABIP, wRC, wRAA and the list goes on and on. No, he’s not a great fielder but who else can play center field for the Dodgers? Plus let’s not forget, the Dodgers are awful. They play in a pitcher’s park and Kemp has no lineup protection. Last year he hit 28 HRs, this season he already has 22. His career-high in steals is 35, he has 25. The guy is playing out of his mind. Look at his FanGraphs page, look at the hard numbers and try to act like he hasn’t improved dramatically and isn’t for real.

Honorable mention: Jose Reyes, New York Mets
I love a good leadoff hitter, I can’t lie. Reyes has been his old self and he’s playing like it’s 2006. In fact, he may outproduce some of his best career numbers this year which is impressive considering how far he’s come over the last two seasons. This has been talked about a lot already, but Reyes has 15 triples, six more than his nearest competition (Shane Victorino). The leader last season was Dexter Fowler with 14. Only three guys have had 20 or more since the year 2000: Cristian Cuzman (20, 2000), Jimmy Rollins (20, 2007) and Curtis Granderson (23, 2007). Reyes also leads the league in hits (124) and second in steals (30). What’s really impressive to me as well is that he is in the top 15 for slugging percentage (.529) and when you look at the names surrounding him on the list, it’s nothing but some of the best power hitters in the game.

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July 8, 2011 – Matt De Lima There isn’t much value to winning an imaginary MVP award from a baseball blog, but some recognition is deserved for some of baseball’s best players this season. Whether it’s Adrian Gonzalez continued domination or Jose Reyes rebound season, 2011 has been an entertaining season from the most successful [...]