Mookie Betts had a 2016 for the ages. Since 1901, here are the only guys to post 29+ fielding runs and 29+ batting runs. As with Mookie this year, most of these guys didn’t win their league MVP award.
Rk Player Year Rbat Rfield Age Tm Pos 1 Mookie Betts 2016 29.8 32.0 23 BOS *9/H 2 Chase Utley 2008 30.0 31.0 29 PHI *4/3 3 Albert Pujols 2007 51.3 31.0 27 STL *3/H 4 Scott Rolen 2004 40.2 30.0 29 STL *5 5 Ichiro Suzuki 2004 35.7 30.0 30 SEA *9/DH 6 Ken Griffey 1996 39.8 32.3 26 SEA *8/D 7 Al Kaline 1961 39.3 29.2 26 DET *98/H75
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Actually none of those guys won the MVP.
Mookie Betts placed 2nd to the best player on Earth. It was probably the best season by an AL player not named Mike Trout since ARod’s 2007 season.
Utley not winning was hardly a travesty given what Pujols produced. The travesty was that he placed behind his teammate Ryan Howard, who amassed a mighty 1.8 WAR.
Pujols had his most pedestrian season with the bat in 2007. He actually led the league in WAR that year too though (I think I would’ve had him second to Wright, but that’s just me.
Rolen ’04 was part of the MV3 combination with Pujols and Edmonds. Bonds was the obvious MVP with Rolen and Beltre having two of the best all-around 3B seasons of all-time.
Ichiro ’04 set the hits record for a last place team. His glove (and arm) were not a mystery although I think his overall value was underestimated by analytics before quantifiable, relative assessments of fielding value became big.
Griffey ’96 … that race should have been between him and ARod…and in that situation, it should go to the guy providing the lineup protection. Juan-Gone’s playoff status and gaudy RBI totals were all the rage back then.
Kaline ’61, pick a different year to be great, bro.
Utley not only finished behind Howard but the even less valuable Carlos Delgado as well as Aramis Ramirez who put up an essentially identical triple crown slash line to go with his ham-fisted defense at 3rd. And a dozen other guys as well.
And while I can see a case for a few guys besides Pujols in ’07 Howard and Price Fielder- both of whom finished higher in the voting than he did- ain’t among them.
The ’04 NL voting is actually pretty reasonable the AL not so much. I can understand their undervaluing Ichiro but how on earth did 3 defensive-liability outfielders finish ahead of a shortstop who drove in 150 runs?
’96 is one of the bigger clinkers in MVP history of course but Griffey finishing behind Albert “They pay me to hit, no chase after the ball” Belle with pretty much an identical triple crown slash line in 18 fewer games is a puzzler as well.
And you’re right about Kaline of course. What’s really amazing is that he was arguably only the third best position player on a team that also had Jim Bunning plus another guy who finished third in the Cy Young voting AND Don Mossi and yet they somehow came up 8 games short. Pick another year indeed.
Hartvig –
Seems pretty clear that the ’96 and ’04 AL MVP votes were about being on winning/playoff teams.
What I find strange about ’04 is Sheffield finishing 2nd and A-Rod finishing 14th. They played for the same team and had nearly identical Triple Crown stats. The big difference is that A-Rod played the more important defensive position and went 28-32 in steals. So why did he finish so far behind Sheffeld???
Kaline was up against four players (including two of his teammates) with 40+ HR.
Not a huge surprise that only two of these seasons pre-date the current defensive metrics introduced (I think) in 2003 that award defensive runs saved based on context in which a defensive play is made or not made (for example, you can get almost 4 runs saved for one catch, if it’s an over-the-fence snag with the bases loaded). Makes Griffey’s and especially Kaline’s seasons (Griffey ‘s had the benefit of actual zone data) that much more impressive.
As an example of the difference between the old and new stats, these are the Rfield totals for these seasons using the old metric.
Betts – 20
Utley – 8
Pujols – 25
Rolen – 26
Suzuki – 26
I still kind of prefer the old metrics.
I feel like RFIELD is still a pretty poor approximation. I’ve been looking at it more on a three year average. It’s hard with Betts because he’s young but I’d like to see his 2017 look something like his 2016 to really feel like this year’s fielding was that historic. His bat gets too much attention in triple crown stats because of the ballpark factor and the guys hitting around him but I suppose that compensates for the all-around value he brings that doesn’t get reflected in his batting line. I don’t think he’ll maintain anything like his 2016 going forward but I agree it was a pretty great season.
Take a look at Trout’s RFIELD by season:
’12 = +21
’13 = -9
’14 = -9
’15 = +5
’16 = +6
I don’t think he was that much better a fielder in 2012 than he was in 2013. If anything he’s generally improved in fielding (mostly his arm and route selection) year to year. Overall I think he’s much closer to the +3 average he’s put up than +21 or -9. People shouldn’t have flipped out about his defense in ’12 as much as they did, nor get as down in ’13 as they were (zero OF assists). He’s not a bad defensive center fielder and especially in the context of some of the stellar gloves out there (Kiermaier, Pillar, etc) isn’t that far from excellent but +21 or -9 he is not.
Betts also benefits from the cavernous right field in fenway that lets him play more like a center fielder. I think it tends to magnify the range of the right fielder as a ballpark (and also cover up the arm in particular of your left fielder). I don’t think he’d put up those kind of defensive numbers in right if he started for the Yankees instead of the Red Sox, for example. I’m not convinced Betts arm is really that good. I think he’d be better off in center than right. If he were a Yankee (just taking the other extreme park factor) they’d use him in left instead of right a la Brett Gardner.
Mookie Betts deserved to win the MVP, but the writers love Trout’s hollow numbers year after year.
Not sure that “hollow” is the right word to describe Trout’s season.
But, MVP voting has surely changed from the days when you had to be playing on a pennant winner or strong contender to get any serious consideration. That said, winning an MVP playing on a 74-88 team is still pretty unusual. A-Rod did it for the 71-91 Rangers in 2003, and Andre Dawson for the 76-85 Cubs in 1987, Any others like that?
weren’t the Cubs pretty mediocre when Banks won in the late fifties?
Indeed they were. I guess Banks was the exception that proved the rule; voters may have departed from their normal practice when they realized that if they waited for the Cubs to be a contender before recognizing Banks, it would probably be too late.
….and, while we’re talking Cubs, I believe Sauer’s teammates weren’t exactly the ’27 Yankees
You don’t think Eddie Miksis would have push aside Tony Lazzeri?