- Commissioner’s statement on Ventura, Marte
- Ronnie O’Sullivan: Masters champion ‘felt so vulnerable’ in final
- Arron Fletcher Wins 2017 WSOP International Circuit Marrakech Main Event ($140,224)
- Smith challenges Warner to go big in India
- Moncada No. 1 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- Braves land 2 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- Kingery makes MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- New Zealand wrap up 2-0 after Bangladesh implosion
- Mathews, Pradeep, Gunathilaka to return to Sri Lanka
- Elliott hopes for rain for Poli
Added value: Breaking down MVP finalists’ stats
- Updated: November 17, 2016
We already know who the baseball writers thought were the best rookies, managers and pitchers during the 2016 season. All that’s left is the biggest question of them all: Who were the most valuable players in the American League and the National Leagues?
Both MVP Award winners will be announced live on MLB Network tonight at 6 p.m. ET. Esurance MLB Awards week concludes Friday on MLB Network and MLB.com at 8 p.m. ET with the MLB Awards. Categories include Best Major Leaguer, Hitter, Pitcher, Rookie, Manager and Executive. All six finalists for the 2016 MVP Awards (Jose Altuve, Mookie Betts and Mike Trout in the AL; Kris Bryant, Daniel Murphy and Corey Seager in the NL) have had backers in their corners throughout the year. So while we don’t hold the power to declare an official winner in this space, what we can do is go ahead and break down the candidates to see who holds the advantages in different criteria that the Baseball Writers’ Association of America voters themselves may have used to make their ultimate verdicts.
These categories include traditional offensive statistics (home runs, RBIs, slash line percentages, walks and stolen bases), advanced offensive metrics (wins above replacement, win probability added, weighted runs created, overall baserunning), advanced defensive metrics (defensive WAR,defensive runs saved, ultimate zone rating) and overall team performance. Take a look at who enjoyed the edge in each area:
American League
Traditional statistics Advantage: Betts Hopefully most BBWAA voters are inclined to look beyond home runs and RBIs when evaluating an MVP candidate. For those whose eyes still go to those categories first, however, Betts gets the edge, leading this trio with 31 homers and 113 RBIs.
Offensive value added Advantage: Trout The sabermetrics community may argue that Trout should have at least three or four AL MVP Awards by now, so it’s not a huge surprise that advanced offensive metrics heavily favor him once again in 2016. The Angels star led the Major Leagues with a 9.9 offensive WAR (according to Baseball-Reference), 6.45 win probability added (a cumulative total …
