Voting for MVP of MSB, 2021

January 07, 2022, 06:44:46 AM

We're sorry to be getting this out so late after the season and playoffs ended. I have the honor of posting the finalists for Most Valuable Player of MSB for the 2021 season. The 3 members of the CO will follow this post ASAP with voting for Executive of the Year, CY Young, and Reliever of the Year.

For MVP, as always, we ask that all 20 GMs take part in the vote. And you may vote for 2 players. Since we have Cy Young voting, we have made it a habit not to include pitchers in the MVP voting. And we ask voters to keep a few things in mind when voting:
- "The Classic 5" hitting categories (AVE, OPS, RBI, HR, SB)
- His defensive impact
- Is he in the top ten in multiple significant categories
- Was his team competitive

None of those things by themselves should necessarily disqualify a player, but when comparing one player to another, it's important to keep such things in mind. If I had a little more time, I also might mention things like how many times a player's name came up in the game write-ups, how clutch a player was, etc. I'll let you look that stuff up if you wish.

The candidates this year - in the opinion of the one in charge of posting this to the forum - were somewhat obvious as to whom I should list (although if you think another player deserves to be in this group, please write him in), but not so obvious as to who the winner might be. Full disclosure, I started doing short write-ups as I listed each player, but I found myself wanting to include all my reasons for listing them, PLUS my own opinions on strengths/weaknesses. The last thing I want to do is sway a vote by including what I happen to look for in MVPs. Everyone has their pet stats and solid reasons for assessing value.

So without further delay, here are the 5 finalists in alphabetical order (with a write-in option):

Cody Bellinger, Lakeview Rougarou 1B, OF
306/375/575/950, 41 HRs, 110 RBI, 19 SBs, and 43 Doubles

Mookie Betts, Ankeny ACLs, OF
.310/.387/.548/.935, 39 HRs, 147 RBI and 20 SBs

Juan Soto, Ankeny ACLs, OF
.263/.397/.492/.889, 33 HRs, 134 RBI, 27 SBs

Mike Trout, Detroit Maniax, OF
.258/.390/.563/.953, 47 HRs, 132 RBI, 30 SBs

Christian Yelich, Brooklyn Kraken, OF
.305/.386/.567/.953, 33 HRs, 80 RBI, 16 SBs

Write-In. Put his name in the comments, please.

Honorable mentions: Pete Alonso (Bums), Giancarlo Stanton (Koi), Alex Bregman (Blues), Jose Ramirez (Maniax), and a host of other ACLs including Michael Conforto, Francisco Lindor, and Gleyber Torres.

Re: Voting for MVP of MSB, 2021

Reply #1 – January 07, 2022, 04:21:54 PM

I have to be the homer here, but Pete Alonso deserves better than an honorable mention.

Alonso led the league in SLG (.633) and HR (59) by a wide margin; led the league in OPS (.982); finished 2nd in RBI (134), 8th in Runs (114), 4th in Runs Created and RC27; anchored the lineup for arguable the 2nd best offense and a 103 win team.

Even at the risk of sounding the homer, my vote for MVP stays at home with Pete Alonso.