Sports Time Radio

We’re closing in on the halfway point of the MLB season; so it’s time to start talking about who’s going to win what awards. Now remember we’re not even halfway through the regular season, but this is what the media likes to do. Now I don’t have too many problems with who they think will win what except for the American League Most Valuable Player award.

I’m not sure, but the media seems to think that Shohei Otani is the overwhelming favorite To win MVP and unfortunately they’re the ones that vote. The real question is; is he the MVP?

Now Otani is doing something we haven’t seen before and for the first time in his major league career he’s been able to stay healthy. He did hit his 24th home run last night, but he’s hitting just .269. He’s also got an ERA of 2.58 in his 11 starts, but he only averages a little over 5 innings a start; so there’s a lot of innings for a bullpen to cover when he makes a start. You also have to look at the fact that he’s only going to make about 20 starts this season as long as he can stay healthy.

Not what he’s doing is interesting you have to wonder if he’s the first guy to do it because he’s been allowed to do it. I’m sure if you went through the careers of Major League Baseball players you’d find plenty that pitched or played a position very well until they where forced to choose one or the other. I can remember playing Little League and High School baseball and some of the best pitchers on the team where also are best hitters. Then on days they didn’t pitch they played another big time position like shortstop.

While Otani is the first to pitch and hit at the Major League level you also have to remember that he rarely plays defense and is a DH when not pitching.

You can also throw in the fact that the Los Angeles Angels are three game under .500 and nowhere near to being a playoff contender. Apparently when it comes to Angels players it doesn’t matter where they finish in the standings.

Now the other player who has been mentioned in the AL MVP race if Vladimir Guerrero of the Toronto Blue Jays, but I’d like to bring up another candidate that I haven’t heard mentioned at all.

Someone please explain to me how no one has mentioned Xander Bogaerts of the Boston Red Sox as a candidate for MVP?

The Red Sox have been one of the biggest surprises of this MLB season as they are currently 45-31 just a 1/2 game behind the Tampa Bay Rays for 1st place in the A.L. East which is considered one of the toughest division in baseball. Bogaerts is clearly the leader of the Red Sox and there best player. With as high a profile as the Red Sox have you’d think that someone would’ve mentioned Bogaerts in the MVP conversation, but nothing yet.

Maybe the draw back is that in this era where only home runs matter Bogaerts only has 13 on the season. Even though he doesn’t pitch he is an everyday shortstop. Bogaerts has made just 7 errors this season and has a fielding percentage of .973. That puts Bogaerts in the Top 15 of all shortstops defensively, but his offensive numbers are much better than any of the shortstops ahead of him.

I mentioned that Bogaerts has those 13 home runs, but he’s also hitting .320 which is good for 4th in the American League. Bogaerts also has 21 doubles and 45 RBI’s this season. Bogaerts also plays everyday as he has been in 71 of the 76 games the Red Sox have played this season.

Does that sound like someone who deserves to be mentioned in the MVP race? Maybe the home run numbers aren’t as gaudy as some of the other players who’s names have some up in the MVP talk, but is that really how you want an MVP chosen?

Let me know if you think Bogaerts should at least have gotten some mention in this MVP race. I’d also be interested to know if there’s a payer that hasn’t gotten proper mention that you thinks belong in any of these award races.

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