Major League Baseball passed out its ultimate two items of {hardware} on Thursday evening by means of revealing this yr’s Most Valuable Player Award winners. Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. gained the National League’s designation over Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts and primary baseman Freddie Freeman. Acuña and AL winner Shohei Ohtani each gained unanimously, making this the primary timte since 1931 that the winners in each leagues gained complete beef up.
For those that might not be as much as snuff on how MLB‘s awards are made up our minds, participants of the Baseball Writers Association of America forged their ballots on the conclusion of the common season. That manner the postseason isn’t factored into the equation. Throughout the week, the MLB and BBWAA were pronouncing their winners in different classes. Here’s a recap:
Acuña, 25, had prior to now gained MVP attention in 3 seasons, together with a fifth-place end in 2019. He put himself above everybody else this yr by means of batting .337/.416/.596 (168 OPS+) with 41 home runs and 73 stolen bases. Acuña’s season represents the primary time {that a} participant had cleared the 40-70 mark. While it does not cheapen his brilliance, it must be famous that this season comes after the set up of recent regulations on the MLB stage that incentivized the stolen base. Clearly, in Acuña’s case, MLB were given its want.
Acuña’s contributions had been value an estimated 8.2 Wins Above Replacement, in line with Baseball Reference’s calculations.
Here’s the full voting breakdown:
|
Ronald Acuna Jr. |
30 |
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|
– |
420 |
| Mookie Betts | – | 30 | – | 270 |
| Freddie Freeman | – | – | 17 | 227 |
| Matt Olson | – | – | 13 | 223 |
| Corbin Carroll | – | – | – | 165 |
| Juan Soto | – | – | – | 106 |
| Austin Riley | – | – | – | 68 |
| Luis Arraez | – | – | – | 67 |
| Francisco Lindor | – | – | – | 52 |
| Cody Bellinger | – | – | – | 49 |
| William Contreras | – | – | – | 39 |
| Bryce Harper | – | – | – | 36 |
| Blake Snell | – | – | – | 16 |
| Fernando Tatis Jr. | – | – | – | 5 |
| Ha-Seong Kim | – | – | – | 5 |
| Ozzie Albies | – | – | – | 4 |
| Logan Webb | – | – | – | 3 |
| Pete Alonso | – | – | – | 3 |
| Marcell Ozuna | – | – | – | 2 |
| Devin Williams | – | – | – | 2 |
| Dansby Swanson | – | – | – | 2 |
| Kyle Schwarber | – | – | – | 2 |
| Zac Gallen | – | – | – | 1 |
| Christian Walker | – | – | – | 1 |
| TJ Friedl | – | – | – | 1 |
| Nick Castellanos | – | – | – | 1 |
This marks the 9th time {that a} Braves participant has gained the MVP Award. Acuña joins a gaggle that comes with Freddie Freeman (2020), Chipper Jones (1999), Terry Pendleton (1991), Dale Murphy (1982, 1983), Henry Aaron (1957), Robert Elliott (1947), and Johnny Evers (1914). (The Braves relocated to Atlanta in 1966, that means that Aaron’s win got here whilst the crew used to be situated in Milwaukee and each Elliott and Evers’ victories got here as participants of the Boston Braves.)
Betts and Freeman every had terrific seasons themselves. Betts hit .307/.408/.579 (163 OPS+) with 39 home runs and 107 RBI. Baseball Reference estimated that his play used to be value 8.3 Wins Above Replacement. Freeman batted .331/.410/.567 (161 OPS+) with 29 home runs and 102 RBI. His season used to be deemed to be value 6.5 Wins Above Replacement.