Breaking Blue 2015 NL MVP
I’m not sure if we should apologize in advance for the lack of analysis that’s about to happen in this installment of our 2015 awards picks, but really there doesn’t need to be a lot.
John Havok – Bryce Harper.
You might wonder why there’s a period behind his name. It’s because that’s where the conversation for NL MVP starts and stops. I don’t care that his team didn’t make the playoffs. Seasons like the one Harper just had, one that is amongst the all-time great seasons in baseball history stand on their own merits and deserve recognition. It’s Bryce Harper. The one argument I could see people making is one for Clayton Kershaw but despite me picking him for NL Cy Young, I don’t think he will win it, and if he doesn’t win that, I don’t know how he could factor into the MVP.
Spencer Estey – Bryce Harper
What is there to say? Harper had a season for the ages, no matter whether situational context is considered. Anthony Rizzo led the National League in WPA, piling up over a win more than Harper, but to me that’s not enough to exceed the total value provided by Harper’s great season. WPA is a good stat that tells a story but it can devalue important run-scoring activity that occurs early in games. Harper’s production with runners on base (wRC+ of 195) and in scoring position (163) were great, fueling that outstanding 79.31 RE24 runs total.
André Godin – Bryce Harper
Prospects, as a general rule, do much less of their development in the majors than they used to but that doesn’t mean that all prospects arrive fully formed. Yes Harper was good enough to be an above average major leaguer at 19 but that doesn’t mean that he had fully arrived just yet. Harper just made anyone who thought differently look incredibly foolish adding a whopping 255 points of OPS to his career high and serving notice that he’s now the game’s premium hitter.
Nikolai Ballevski – Bryce Harper
See the above write-ups. Nothing for me to add here. It should be unanimous.
Clean Sweep for Harper. If the voting for the actual awards don’t go like this too, there should be an inquisition.
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