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Value in youth: Trout, Bryant named MVPs
- Updated: November 18, 2016
Mike Trout and Kris Bryant were born 150 days apart and, relatively speaking, not that many days ago. Both of them played the 2016 season at age 24. But their inherent youth hasn’t stopped them from making history on the field of play and, on Thursday night, in the Baseball Writers’ Association’s Most Valuable Player Awards unveiling.
The Angels’ Trout is now a two-time American League MVP, with the rest of his first five full seasons also well-represented by three second-place finishes. No player has ever had a career start with that much acclaim.
• All-time MVP winners
And the Cubs’ Bryant followed his unanimous selection as last year’s National League Rookie of the Year in fitting fashion with a near-unanimous selection as the NL MVP, with 29 of 30 voters putting him in first place. Only three other players — Cal Ripken Jr., Ryan Howard and Dustin Pedroia — began their careers with the rookie award and the MVP award in sweet succession.
The MLB Awards — following league-specific recognition by BBWAA voters, whose ballots are based on regular-season play — include candidates from both leagues (with postseason performance taken into consideration). MLB Awards are based on votes by retired players, broadcasters/reporters, team executives, Society of American Baseball Research members and fans, with each group accounting for 20 percent of the process. Esurance MLB Awards week concludes Friday on MLB Network and MLB.com at 8 p.m. ET. MLB Awards categories include Best Major Leaguer, Hitter, Pitcher, Rookie, Executive and Manager.
Bryant became the ninth Cub and the first since Sammy Sosa in 1998 to win the MVP. Bryant beat out fellow finalists Daniel Murphy of the Nationals and Corey Seager of the Dodgers, and he looked to be a lock for this honor as the regular season drew to a close. The Cubs steamrolled the NL Central with 103 wins, living up to the enormous expectations placed upon them and, though this didn’t affect the BBWAA voting, eventually winning a World Series title 108 years in the making.
NL MVP voting results Player, Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Points Kris Bryant, Cubs 29 1 415 Daniel Murphy, Nationals 1 11 10 6 1 245 Corey …
