Ranking the 25 Best MLB Players Since 1990 to Never Win a MVP Award
The Ronald Acuña Jr. vs. Mookie Betts race for NL MVP has been among the most compelling in recent years, and it now looks like Acuña will add his name to the list of players who have won the award.
But what about those who never won an MVP?
Ahead, we've highlighted the 25 best players since 1990 who did not win an MVP award during their careers, and while there are a couple active players on this list, it's mostly made up of recently retired stars. Players are ranked based on their career body of work and their MVP potential at their peak.
In order to be considered for inclusion, a player had to have received at least one MVP vote since 1990, so while some of these names were in their prime prior to that cut-off, they were still relevant stars on the other side of it.
Honorable Mentions
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Honorable Mentions
OF Bobby Abreu
OF José Bautista
1B/OF Lance Berkman
2B Robinson Canó
1B Will Clark
DH Nelson Cruz
1B Carlos Delgado
OF Jim Edmonds
SS Nomar Garciaparra
OF Shawn Green
OF Torii Hunter
SS Francisco Lindor
OF Kenny Lofton
3B Evan Longoria
C Yadier Molina
OF Magglio Ordóñez
1B Rafael Palmeiro
1B Anthony Rizzo
C Salvador Perez
3B José Ramírez
OF Juan Soto
1B Mark Teixeira
SS Trea Turner
2B Chase Utley
OF Bernie Williams
3B David Wright
Nos. 25-21
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25. 3B Manny Machado
Best Finish: 2nd in 2022
Machado will climb this list in the coming years, and he has already established himself as one of the greatest third basemen in MLB history. The 31-year-old logged his seventh 30-homer season this year and has finished in the top 10 in MVP voting six times, including a runner-up finish last year when he had a 158 OPS+ with 37 doubles, 32 home runs, 102 RBI and 6.8 WAR.
24. 1B Todd Helton
Best Finish: 5th in 2000
Helton is trending toward Cooperstown after his voting support jumped from 52.0 to 72.2 percent last year. During his 17 seasons with the Colorado Rockies, he was one of baseball's most consistent offensive performers. He made a legitimate run at a .400 average in 2000 before finishing with a .372/.463/.698 line that included 59 doubles, 42 home runs, 147 RBI and an NL-leading 8.9 WAR, though he finished just fifth in NL MVP voting.
23. OF Gary Sheffield
Best Finish: 2nd in 2004
With eight 30-homer seasons and 509 career long balls, Sheffield was a prodigious slugger, though he did it playing for eight different teams over a 22-year career. He finished in the top five in MVP voting in 1992 (with SD), 2003 (with ATL) and 2004 (with NYY), and his 140 OPS+ for his career ranks among the top 100 all-time.
22. 3B Scott Rolen
Best Finish: 4th in 2004
A seven-time All-Star and eight-time Gold Glove winner, Rolen finally got over the Hall of Fame hump in his sixth year on the ballot last year. The 1997 NL Rookie of the Year was an instant star with the Philadelphia Phillies and later joined Albert Pujols and Jim Edmonds to form a fearsome middle-of-the-order for the St. Louis Cardinals.
21. OF Albert Belle
Best Finish: 2nd in 1995
Belle only played 12 seasons before a degenerative hip condition ended his career, but he was one of the best hitters of the 1990s and an absolute force in the middle of some stacked Cleveland lineups. He hit .317/.401/.690 with 52 doubles, 50 home runs and 126 RBI during the 1995 season in what should have been an MVP win, but he finished runner-up to Mo Vaughn who had inferior numbers across the board.
Nos. 20-16
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20. OF Carlos Beltrán
Best Finish: 4th in 2006
One of the best power/speed threats in MLB history, Beltrán is one of only five players in MLB history with 400 home runs and 300 steals, joining Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Willie Mays and Andre Dawson. He posted a 150 OPS+ with 41 home runs and 8.2 WAR in his second season with the New York Mets in 2006 to finish fourth in NL MVP balloting.
19. 3B Nolan Arenado
Best Finish: 3rd in 2018 and 2022
Arenado averaged 40 home runs and 124 RBI during a five-year peak with the Colorado Rockies. He then erased questions about whether his production was inflated by Coors Field when he hit .293/.358/.533 with 42 doubles, 30 home runs and 103 RBI in 2022 to finish third in NL MVP voting. The 32-year-old is on a clear Hall of Fame trajectory.
18. OF Andruw Jones
Best Finish: 2nd in 2005
With 434 home runs and 10 Gold Glove Awards in center field, Jones was a bona fide superstar during the late 1990s and throughout the 2000s. He entered the league with a tremendous amount of hype, and his peak offensive performance came in 2005 when he was the NL leader in home runs (51) and RBI (128) to finish runner-up to Albert Pujols in NL MVP voting.
17. 2B Craig Biggio
Best Finish: 4th in 1997
Originally a catcher before shifting to second base, Biggio was a steady producer over a 20-year career spent entirely with the Houston Astros, piling up 3,060 hits on his way to Cooperstown. Often viewed more as a compiler than an elite player, Biggio had a 9.4-WAR campaign in 1997 when he hit .309/.415/.501 with 37 doubles, 22 home runs, 81 RBI, 146 runs scored and 47 steals.
16. 1B Fred McGriff
Best Finish: 4th in 1993
With 493 home runs and 1,550 RBI, McGriff was a consistent force in the middle of lineups for the Toronto Blue Jays, San Diego Padres, Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Rays and Chicago Cubs over a 19-year career, tallying at least one 30-homer campaign with each of those teams. His best NL MVP finish came in 1993, the same year he was traded from San Diego to Atlanta at the deadline.
Nos. 15-11
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15. DH Edgar Martinez
Best Finish: 3rd in 1995
Martinez spent much of his career playing in the shadow of superstars like Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez and Ichiro Suzuki, but he stands as one of the best pure hitters in baseball history in his own right. He won his second of two career batting titles in 1995 when he hit .356/.479/.628 with 52 doubles, 29 home runs, 113 RBI and 129 runs scored while helping lead Seattle to the postseason.
14. OF Kirby Puckett
Best Finish: 2nd in 1992
Puckett was the face of the Minnesota Twins during the late 1980 and throughout the 1990s, leading the club to World Series titles in 1987 and 1991. A 10-time All-Star over 12 seasons in the majors, he finished in the top 10 in MVP voting seven times. His highest finish came in 1992 when he hit .329/.374/.490 while leading the AL in hits (210) and total bases (313), landing him as runner-up to Dennis Eckersley in balloting.
13. SS Ozzie Smith
Best Finish: 2nd in 1987
A defensive whiz who is widely regarded as the best defensive shortstop in baseball history, Smith is not the type of player who generally garners much MVP attention, though he did receive votes in six different seasons. He hit .303/.392/.383 with 43 steals and 104 runs scored in one of the best offensive seasons of his career in 1987, and that earned him a NL runner-up finish behind Andre Dawson.
12. 2B/3B/DH Paul Molitor
Best Finish: 2nd in 1993
Molitor piled up 3,319 hits over 21 seasons, a total that ranks 11th on the all-time list, and he was a .306/.369/.448 career hitter. In his first season with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1993 following a 15-year run with the Milwaukee Brewers, he hit .332/.402/.509 with 37 doubles, 22 home runs, 111 RBI, 121 runs scored and an AL-leading 211 hits to help lead Toronto to a second straight World Series title and earn him a runner-up finish MVP voting.
11. 1B Mark McGwire
Best Finish: 2nd in 1998
McGwire is the type of player who generally received a ton of MVP attention throughout the 1980s and 1990s with gaudy home run and RBI totals playing for a perennial contender in Oakland and a major market club in St. Louis. He won the home run race with Sammy Sosa in 1998 when he slugged 70 home runs to Sosa's 66, but Sosa took home NL MVP honors for helping the Cubs reach the postseason for the first time in almost a decade.
Nos. 10-6
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10. 3B Adrián Beltré
Best Finish: 2nd in 2004
Beltré will be best remembered for his time with the Texas Rangers, as he hit .305/.357/.509 with 41.1 WAR with the team over the final eight seasons of his career. However, his best season came in what would be his final campaign with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2004. Then 25, he hit .334/.388/.629 with 48 home runs, 121 RBI and 9.6 WAR to finish second to Barry Bonds in NL voting. That was the only time over the first 12 seasons of his career that he received MVP votes.
9. OF Dave Winfield
Best Finish: 3rd in 1979
One of the greatest all-around athletes in sports history, Winfield was drafted professionally in baseball, basketball and football coming out of the University of Minnesota, and the San Diego Padres jumped him straight to the majors after taking him No. 4 overall in the 1973 draft. He had 3,110 hits, 465 home runs and 1,833 RBI over his 22-year career, and he was still going strong in his age-40 season in 1992 when he finished fifth in AL MVP voting.
8. 1B Eddie Murray
Best Finish: 2nd in 1982 and 1983
One of only seven players who are members of both the 3,000-hit and 500-HR clubs, Murray stands as one of the most underrated players in baseball history. He was at his best during the 1980s when he finished runner-up in AL MVP voting in consecutive years, but a fifth-place finish in NL MVP voting with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1990 was enough to qualify him for a spot in these rankings.
7. C Mike Piazza
Best Finish: 2nd in 1996 and 1997
The greatest offensive catcher in MLB history, Piazza hit .337/.401/.583 over his first five full seasons in the big leagues, winning NL Rookie of the Year in 1993 and finishing runner-up in NL MVP voting in 1996 and 1997. He had two more top-10 finishes during his time with the New York Mets, but never took home the hardware.
6. OF Manny Ramírez
Best Finish: 3rd in 1999 and 2004
One of the most prolific run producers in MLB history, Ramírez had 12 100-RBI seasons in his 19-year career, and his 1,831 RBI rank 20th on the all-time list. He finished in the top 10 in MVP voting nine different times, but never higher than third in the balloting which he did one time each in Cleveland and Boston. He hit .333/.442/.663 with 44 home runs and 165 RBI during the 1999 season, losing out to Ivan Rodríguez in a tight race where six different players received at least one first-place vote.
5. DH David Ortiz
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Best Finish: 2nd in 2005
David Ortiz did not receive MVP votes for the first time until his age-27 season, which was also his first year with the Boston Red Sox in 2003.
That kicked off an impressive stretch of five straight top-five finishes in the AL balloting, with a runner-up finish in 2005 when he hit .300/.397/.604 with 40 doubles, 47 home runs and 148 RBI. He finished behind Alex Rodriguez in a tight race, receiving 11 of 28 first-place votes.
In the final season of his career in 2016, he hit .315/.401/.620 with 48 doubles, 38 home runs and 127 RBI, leading the AL in slugging, OPS, doubles and RBI to finish sixth in the voting.
4. 3B Wade Boggs
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Best Finish: 4th in 1985
Wade Boggs peaked during the 1980s, winning five batting titles during a six-year span with the Boston Red Sox, and he wrapped up his 18-year career as a .328 hitter.
A handful of down-ballot votes in 1990, 1994 and 1995 were enough to qualify him for a spot on this list, but his four top-10 finishes in MVP voting all came during the second half of the 1980s.
His best finish was fourth place in 1985 when he hit .368/.450/.478 with a career-high 240 hits in a 9.1-WAR season, and he checked in behind Don Mattingly, George Brett and Rickey Henderson in the AL voting that year.
3. 1B Jim Thome
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Best Finish: 4th in 2003
Despite launching 612 home runs over a 22-year career that earned him first-ballot Hall of Fame induction in 2018, slugger Jim Thome did not receive a ton of accolades during his playing career.
He was selected to just five All-Star teams and only finished in the top five in MVP voting once, and that came during his first season with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2003 when he hit .266/.385/.573 with an NL-leading 47 home runs and 131 RBI.
Chalk up the lack of awards attention to spending the first 12 seasons of his career playing on some stacked Cleveland teams where he shared the spotlight with guys like Albert Belle, Manny Ramírez, Kenny Lofton and Carlos Baerga.
2. OF Tony Gwynn
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Best Finish: 3rd in 1984
With eight batting titles, a .338 career average and an absurd 434 strikeouts in 10,232 career plate appearances, Tony Gwynn is widely regarded as one of the greatest pure hitters of the modern era.
However, he made the postseason just three times in a 20-year career that was spent entirely with the San Diego Padres, and that no doubt hurt his odds of being a perennial contender for the NL MVP award.
His best finish came in 1984, when the Padres reached the World Series and he hit .351/.410/.444 with 213 hits en route to his first career batting title. He finished third in the NL voting that year, behind Ryne Sandberg and Keith Hernandez.
1. SS Derek Jeter
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Best Finish: 2nd in 2006
Derek Jeter has five World Series rings, five Gold Glove Awards, five Silver Slugger Awards, 1996 AL Rookie of the Year, 2000 All-Star Game MVP and 2000 World Series MVP in his trophy case, but he never won a regular-season MVP.
The closest he came to taking home the hardware was 2006, when he hit .343/.417/.483 for a 132 OPS+ with 39 doubles, 14 home runs, 97 RBI, 118 runs scored and 34 steals in a 5.6-WAR season. He received 12 of 28 first-place votes and was narrowly edged out by Minnesota Twins first baseman Justin Morneau.
He also finished third in the voting in 1998 and 2009, which speaks to his longevity as a high-level performer.
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