Ray Flowers gives some quick thoughts on the NL and AL award winners for MLB hitting on the Rookie of the Year, the Cy Young award and the Most Valuable Player.
AL MVP – Aaron Judge, Unanimous Winner
Aaron Judge became the 17th man to win the award twice in the AL.
In an unprecedented situation, Judge received all 30 first place votes while Bobby Witt received all 30 second place votes. That had never happened before in AL history. Their numbers were pretty close – from a fantasy perspective.
Judge: .322-58-144-122-10
Witt: .332-32-109-125-31
Of course, Judge had Juan Soto as a teammate, and he finished 4th in baseball in fWAR and third in the AL MVP Vote. Salvador Perez was 56th in fWAR and didn’t get a single MVP vote in support of Witt.
NL MVP – Shohei Ohtani, Unanimous Winner
Shohei Ohtani didn’t throw a pitch but still won the MVP for the third time.
Some data points from his dominant season (.310-54-130-134-59).
He was the first 50/50 player ever, nearly going 55/60.
He is the only player to ever win MVP with a unanimous vote more than once. He’s done it three times. He is the 12th player to win the MVP three times.
This was the 18th time a player has won the award in back-to-back seasons.
He joined Frank Robinson as the only man to win the award in the AL and the NL.
He became the only DH to ever win the award.
He was simply – outstanding.
AL CY YOUNG – Tarik Skubal, Unanimous Winner
Tarik Skubal won his first award in what was a third straight season of a unanimous AL winner .
Skubal was he 12th AL pitcher to be a unanimous selection.
He is the 6th Tiger to win the award.
He won the Triple Crown with 18 victories, a 2.39 ERA and 228 punchouts. He was second to Logan Gilbert in WHIP (0.89 to 0.92).
Seth Lugo was second in the league, to Gilbert, in workload (208.2 and 206.2) as Lugo was an out of nowhere star in his 34 year old season (16 W, 3.00 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 181 Ks).
Lugo and Skubal were the only hurlers listed on every ballot.
Emmanuel Clase had the highest finish for a reliever since 2009 (Francisco Rodriguez).
NL CY YOUNG – Chris Sale Was Nearly Unanimous Winner
Chris Sale led the NL and won the Triple Crown of pitching with 18 wins, a 2.38 ERA and 225 punchouts.
This was Sale’s first win in his 14th season. It was also a 8th finish for him in the top-6 and a third top-3 finish.
The last time he received a Cy Young vote prior to this year was 2018.
Sale and Zack Wheeler, who had one less second place vote that Sale had first place votes, were the only two hurlers named on every ballot. This is Wheeler’s second time finishing second (2021 – Corbin Burnes).
We will touch on Paul Skenes below.
AL ROY – Luis Gil Wins on a Close Ballot
Luis Gil was the best rookie starting pitcher.
The best rookie reliver, Mason Miller, finished fourth.
The best rookie hitter – Colton Cowser – finished second.
Gil is the 10th Yankee to win the award, the most in AL history.
Cowser was actually listed on one more ballot than Gil, though Gil had two more first place votes.
Gil went 15-7 with a 3.50 ERA and 1.19 WHIP with 171 punchouts over 151.2 innings in a truly out of nowhere performance.
Gil was dominant in the first half (.266 wOBA), but he wasn’t even league average in the second half (.330 wOBA). He also saw his second half WHIP rise to an unpalatable 1.42 after a strong 1.08 mark in the first half.
NL ROY – Paul Skenes was The Truth
Any of the four men who received votes would have been a worthy winner.
Shota Imanaga was 30 years old when the season began though after a career in Japan.
Jackson Chourio turned 20 less than a month before the season began and went .275-21-79-80-22.
Jackson Merrill switched from the infield to the outfield and at 21 years of age starred for the Padres (.292-24-90-77-16).
In the end though, Paul Skenes was just too much.
Skenes became the second Pirate to win the award (Jason Bay in 2004).
Skenes helped to make some history.
He dominated nearly every time out.
He earned some accolades along the way.
Enjoy the pure dominance.
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