Cincinnati Reds Joey Votto did not do enough to earn MVP award

Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto proved once again that he is the best player in the National League, but not the MVP.

Every year two players in MLB dominate the offensive statistics, Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels and Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto.  They are without a doubt the best two players in baseball.  Unfortunately, the MVP is about having the most valuable season, not the best.

Joey Votto led the National League in walks, OBP, and OPS.  Those are the numbers that sabermetricians love, but there is more to baseball than just those three numbers.

Charlie Blackmon of the playoff making Colorado Rockies should be the NL MVP in 2017.  He led the NL in runs, hits, triples, and batting average.  He was also second to Giancarlo Stanton of the Miami Marlins in slugging and third behind Votto and Stanton in OPS.

Blackmon had the more traditional MVP season.  He is known as a plus defender and his team made the playoffs.  His high OPS ranking also validates his traditional stats like runs and hits.

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Stanton also deserves more votes than Votto this season to be fair.  Stanton led the NL in home runs, RBIs, and slugging.  He also was second in runs and OPS, which is a combination more deserving than Votto’s for the MVP award.  Votto shouldn’t feel too bad as Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees should beat out Trout for the American League MVP.

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That Joey Votto deserves to finish THIRD in the NL MVP race shouldn’t diminish the season that he had for the Cincinnati Reds.

So Votto had the third most valuable season of anyone in the NL.  That is amazing.  He did it in the midst of a bad season for the team around him.

This season Blackmon beat Votto for the lead in runs created by one.  That number usually informs everybody who had the best offensive season holding things even across team lines.  Blackmon ended up fifteen ahead of Stanton.

When you look over the past five years, Trout and Votto are consistently at the top of the rankings of runs created with Paul Goldschmidt of the Arizona Diamondbacks just a touch back.  If it weren’t for Goldschmidt, Votto would have credit for being transcendent like Trout.  In fact, without Votto, Goldschmidt would also get credit as the best first baseman in MLB.

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Trout finished eleventh in runs created this season.  Maybe even without winning the MVP, Votto has established himself as the best offensive player in baseball.  If he can keep this up, he will eventually earn his second NL MVP.