Why Joey Votto should win the National League MVP Award
With Thursday’s announcement of the Most Valuable Player awards, Paste BN Sports breaks down the cases for the three National League finalists:
The case for Giancarlo Stanton
With 59 home runs, the Miami Marlins outfielder put on a power-hitting display the game hadn’t seen since Barry Bonds’ record-setting season in 2001. He also led the majors with 132 RBI and a .631 slugging percentage. In addition to his jaw-dropping raw power, Stanton showed significant improvement as a hitter this season by increasing his walk rate and cutting his strikeout rate from 2016. That helped him raise his on-base percentage by 50 points and finish third in the majors with 123 runs scored.
The case for Paul Goldschmidt
Looking to finally win an MVP after finishing second twice, Goldschmidt was one of the driving forces that took the Arizona Diamondbacks from a 69-93 record in 2016 to 93-69 and a playoff berth this season. He hit .297, tied for sixth in the league in homers (36) and ranked fourth in RBI (120) – in addition to winning the Gold Glove at first base for his defense. He also stole 18 bases. Goldschmidt might have won the award easily if not for an elbow injury that coincided with him hitting just .171 in September.
The case for Joey Votto
One of five players in the majors to appear in all 162 games, Votto hit .320 with 36 homers and 100 RBI. However, those numbers only scratch the surface of his true value. The Cincinnati Reds first baseman got on base a total of 321 times – 33 more than runner-up Charlie Blackmon. He led the majors with 134 walks, a .454 on-base percentage and a 1.032 OPS. Combining the different aspects of hitting into one metric (weighted on-base average, or wOBA), Votto's .428 led all National Leaguers.
X factors
Of the three finalists, only Goldschmidt played for a winning team. Will that be enough to push him over the top? Stanton has the eye-popping traditional numbers on his side, but the advanced stats give an edge to Votto.
Winning time
With three deserving and diverse candidates, this will likely be the closest race of all the postseason awards. Taking all the elements of a player’s value into consideration, Votto did the most this season and should win his second NL MVP trophy.
Gallery: Recent MLB MVP winners