Halfway through the season, the Padres and Reds are major players, and the over-hyped Mariners are already shopping off their best players. Whether or not any of this surprises you, it's made for an interesting season so far.
Let's take a look at the best National League players at midseason:
Current National League MVP
Joey Votto
This basically comes down to two players — Votto and Albert Pujols, and quite frankly, both have plenty of merit. But with a slight edge statistically, and for leading a team with a one-game division lead over Pujols' Cardinals, Votto gets the nod. He leads the league in slugging and OPS, and has stolen seven bases. Just past the halfway point of this season, his numbers project to 41 HR, 111 RBI, and 110 runs scored. On a first-place team, those are MVP numbers.
Projected National League MVP
Albert Pujols
Call it a gut feeling, or attribute it to Pujols coming off nine consecutive seasons of at least 30 HR and 100 RBI, but in this close race, I can't see Votto getting the better of Pujols when it's all said and done. Another thing that will probably swing votes in favor of Pujols is that the Reds probably won't finish the season atop the NL Central, and if, at the end of the season, their numbers are similar and the Cardinals are in first, Pujols would be the only logical choice.
Current National League Cy Young
Josh Johnson
As a Cardinals fan, I want to go with Adam Wainwright here, and his current pace (24 wins, 2.11 ERA, and 236 strikeouts), along with the fact that he probably should have won it last year, would seem to indicate that it's his turn to finally win the award. He may very well do that when October rolls around, but right now, Johnson is better. His ERA and WHIP are both lower than Wainwright's, and with any run support, he would probably be on pace for 25 or more wins.
Projected National League Cy Young
Roy Halladay
Again, I want to go with Wainwright here, but with Halladay's seven complete games and 3 shutouts at the halfway point, he's the most logical choice to finish well. My gut says his fairly pedestrian BAA (.246) will improve in the second half of the season, and the fact that he's walked only 19 batters in 19 starts will help keep pitch counts down and increase his number of innings pitched.
Current National League Rookie of the Year
Jaime Garcia
This one is not even close. The only reasonable choice here is Garcia. He has the second-lowest ERA in baseball, and of his 17 starts, he has allowed 2 or fewer earned runs in 15 of them. If he had better run support in three of those starts, he would be on pace for over 20 wins, too. Second place so far would probably go to Buster Posey, although Jason Heyward has been decent, as well. Both are far behind Garcia at this point, however.
Projected National League Rookie of the Year
Stephen Strasburg
Why Strasburg here? For starters, his BAA (.205) is 40 points lower than Roy Halladay's, and he's on pace for somewhere in the neighborhood of 175 or more strikeouts, despite missing the start of the season in the minor leagues. Garcia is good, but Strasburg has more natural talent than any rookie I've ever seen.
Stayed tuned for the American League awards, coming later this week!
July 17, 2010
Andrew Jones:
No mention of Ubaldo Jimenez at 15-1 and a 2.20 ERA? What does he have to do get some credit, win every game before the All-Star break?