MLB Preview 2012: Predicting the National League Award Winners

While the American League had the drama during the 2011 season, the National League wound up with the success. The National League won its second consecutive World Series Championship and its second straight All-Star game over the American League as well.

While All-Star games and World Series only mean so much, the National League also boasted the team with the best record in baseball, as Philadelphia won 102 games.

But as I mentioned in the American League Award Winners Preview, the National League lost two of its bigger stars when Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder left for the American League. The good news for the NL is that they have young players that are more than capable of replacing them.

This season, 2012 will represent a new era for the National League, and if guys like Matt Kemp, Starlin Castro and others are able to put the league on their back, the balance of power will stay with the senior circuit for a while.

National League Comeback Player of the Year: Adam Wainwright

The St. Louis Cardinals find themselves with a slew of injury problems as Opening Day arrives for the 2012 season. However, one injury concern where the Cardinals might find themselves in safe waters is the return of Adam Wainwright from Tommy John surgery.

Before his injury, Wainwright was considered to be the A-2 starter in the Cardinals' rotation behind Chris Carpenter. Now with Carpenter dealing with a shoulder injury, Wainwright will need to bounce back to his 20-game winner form sooner rather than later.

As was mentioned in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, there is proof of quick returns from Tommy John surgery, as teammates Jaime Garcia and Carpenter both came close to winning major awards in their first season back from Tommy John surgery.

While a quick return from Tommy John surgery isn't the normal case (most people say it takes about a full two years to recover from the procedure), Wainwright seems to be a special case and could follow in the footsteps of Tim Hudson, who won the award in 2010 in the first year back from his procedure.

National League Manager of the Year: Davey Johnson

In my American League preview, I was very high on the Detroit Tigers. In my National League preview (and my NL East preview), I can say that I have a pretty big man crush on the Washington Nationals as well.

Because we can rarely predict a team coming out of nowhere, we have to take the best team or the one with the biggest jump. The Nationals fall into that second category, which makes me believe that Davey Johnson will win the 2012 National League Manager of the Year.

The Nationals have a ton of young pieces that can help Johnson achieve this prediction. First, they'll be getting Stephen Strasburg back, who looked pretty good being 13 months removed from Tommy John surgery in September. They'll also add the services of Bryce Harper at some point as well.

The Nationals are appearing to be a well-rounded team even with the absence of closer Drew Storen, and that is enough to have me drink the Kool-Aid. The Nationals will go from the bottom half of the NL East to contending for one of the two wild-card berths this year in the National League.

National League Rookie of the Year: Bryce Harper

To add to my Nationals love fest, I'm selecting Bryce Harper to win the National League Rookie of the Year. My rationale hinges on the same circumstances that Ryan Braun came up with the Milwaukee Brewers.

In 2007, Braun was close to making the Milwaukee Brewers out of spring training. The Brewers wanted to give Braun a hint of seasoning at the time before bringing him up to Milwaukee, so he was sent down to Triple-A Nashville.

By the time May came around, Tony Graffanino was struggling at third base for the Crew, and they finally pulled the trigger on Braun. The result was the NL Rookie of the Year award, as Braun hit .324 with 34 home runs and 97 runs batted in.

Like the Brewers at third base in 2007, the Nationals have a similar hole in center field. Although Harper will start the season at Triple-A Syracuse, I don't expect him to be there for long. Harper has dominated at every level of the Nationals' system.

Despite the position change, it shouldn't be too long to see what he can do at the major league level.

National League Cy Young Award: Tim Lincecum

In 2011, Tim Lincecum had a down year. That's the perspective of many people in the media, anyway. The truth was that the San Francisco Giants' offense had a down year and Lincecum kept doing what he does best: pitching awesomely.

Sure, Lincecum went 13-14 and the Giants couldn't repeat as NL West champions. However, Lincecum threw over 200 innings for the fourth consecutive season. Lincecum also struck out 220 batters and had an earned-run average of 2.74.

So maybe Lincecum didn't have a down year like the media says he did. Clayton Kershaw deserved the NL Cy Young Award, but Lincecum should have been in the mix with his numbers.

Cy Young Award voters are now starting to look at numbers other than wins and losses when determining their vote. With the National League having several top-tier pitchers, the National League Cy Young race could be wide open.

National League Most Valuable Player: Justin Upton

The National League's Most Valuable Player could come down to an epic battle between Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Justin Upton of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Some would argue that Kemp should be the defending Most Valuable Player in the National League due to Ryan Braun's banned substance issues.

Kemp put together one of the best seasons in recent memory, as he challenged for the Triple Crown deep into September with a .324 average (third in the National League), 39 home runs (first) and 126 runs batted in (first). There shouldn't be a drop-off with Kemp, so he'll be in the race...but come up just short.

That's because there is a budding superstar in the desert known as Justin Upton. Upton put together his best season so far by hitting .289 with 31 home runs and 88 runs batted in. Like Kemp, who stole 40 bases with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2011, Upton can swipe a base if needed as well (21 in '11).

There are two reasons I'm going with Upton here. The first being that the Arizona Diamondbacks should repeat as NL West champions, while the Dodgers will finish fourth.

The bigger reason is that Justin Upton put together last year's solid effort at age 23. Upton has a massive amount of potential and could put up a season that meets or exceeds Kemp's effort from last year in 2012.

My prediction is that Justin Upton will reach superstar status in 2012 and win the National League Most Valuable Player award.