With just one week remaining in the regular season and with most of the post-season berths already occupied, the attention of MLB fans around the world has turned to the thorny issue of individual awards which player deserves to win what. Every year there seems to be a huge amount of debate about the MVP (Most Valuable Player) winners from both leagues, and this years American League MVP race is proving to be no different. With respect to Edwin Encarnacion of the Toronto Blue Jays and second baseman Robinson Cano of the New York Yankees (who have both had fantastic seasons) it does appear that the AL MVP crown for 2012 is a straight shoot-out between two men - Miguel Cabrera and the wonderfully named Mike Trout. Its a wonderful name for a wonderful player. After a brief stint in the Majors last year, Trout was called up to the big leagues on April 28th- replacing the established yet aging star Bobby Abreu in the Angels outfield in the process - and he hasnt looked back since. Trout was previously ranked as the #1 minor leagues prospect by ESPNs Keith Law in 2011, and the baseball fraternity knew that this kid was good. What nobody realised was just
how good he is, and at the age of 21 to boot. When we look at the stats for the American League, Trouts name is consistently at the top, across the board. WAR (Wins Above Replacement)? Hes first in the league. Same for RC27 (Runs Created per 27 outs), same for Offensive Win %. He leads the league in stolen bases (47), hes third in OBP (on-base %) and his defence is so good hes regularly making highlight reels due to the insane catches he can pull off thanks to his incredible speed. Simply put, Mike Trout was born to play baseball, and play it like one of the all-time greats. No wonder
Baseball Prospectus 2012 called him a physical freak. Trouts impressive and league-leading WAR rating of 10.4 would usually have him pegged as the unanimous MVP choice, but 2,000 miles east of Los Angeles, theres something very special brewing in Detroit. The last time anyone won the Triple Crown, (leading the league in Home Runs, RBIs and batting average) Neil Armstrong hadnt yet walked on the moon and Miguel Cabrera was just a twinkle in his Dads eye, yet its the latter who is aiming to emulate Carl Yastrzemskis feat 45 years on. At the time of writing, Cabrera leads the American League in batting average and RBIs, and is just the one Home Run away from Josh Hamiltons league-leading tally of 43. Since 1878 there have only been 14 Triple Crown winners, which proves what an astonishing achievement it is, and what a monumentally good season you need to have in order to claim it. When looking at other stats, we see that Cabrera does lead Trout in some categories. Hes got a significantly higher slugging %, OPS (on-base plus slugging ) %, hes hit for more extra-base hits, drawn more walks and leads the league in Total Bases. In many other categories, where Trout leads the way, M-Cab is just one step behind for example, his OBP is .001 below Trouts, and in the aforementioned RC27 category hes second in the league. So, who on earth is the MVP? My vote would go to Trout. With so little to separate the two offensively, defence has to come into consideration, and Trouts is far better. Cabrera has handled the adjustment from 1B to 3B well this year, following the arrival of Prince Fielder to Detroit, but Trout is simply the all-round better athlete and for me the more valuable player this year. Whether the baseball writers who get to vote on this one will agree with me or not remains to be seen, but one thing is clear Mike Trout is only 21, and hes about to get even better. Now thats a scary thought.