B/R MLB Staff Cast Their Ballots for MVP, Cy Young and More
The 2023 season is in the rearview, the Texas Rangers have been crowned World Series champions and free agency has officially opened, but before the hot stove heats up, it's time for MLB awards week.
Here's a rundown of everything on tap for this week:
- Monday: AL, NL Rookie of the Year
- Tuesday: AL, NL Manager of the Year
- Wednesday: AL, NL Cy Young
- Thursday: AL, NL MVP
Before the BBWAA starts handing out the hardware, B/R MLB writers Kerry Miller, Joel Reuter and Zachary Rymer filled out their own ballots for Rookie of the Year, Cy Young and MVP. Our ballots followed the BBWAA format, with 10 players on the MVP ballots, five on the Cy Young ballots and three on the Rookie of the Year ballots.
Along with each of our picks is some quick insight into our thinking.
Let the debate begin!
AL Rookie of the Year (Kerry Miller's Ballot)
1 of 18
Ballot
1. Gunnar Henderson, BAL
2. Tanner Bibee, CLE
3. Josh Jung, TEX
We didn't submit these until after the postseason ended, but I will abide by the regular voting rules and not consider Evan Carter's ridiculous run through October. Carter does get a teammate on the ballot, though, as Jung was mighty impressive for the 4.5 months that he was healthy. But Henderson has this by a mile.
AL Rookie of the Year (Joel Reuter's Ballot)
2 of 18
Ballot
1. Gunnar Henderson, BAL
2. Tanner Bibee, CLE
3. Josh Jung, TEX
It looked like a two-man AL race between Josh Jung and Masataka Yoshida early in the season, but Henderson hit .276/.322/.535 with 52 extra-base hits in 100 games from June 1 through the end of the year. Meanwhile, Bibee allowed three or fewer earned runs in each of his final 16 starts, logging a 2.50 ERA over 93.2 innings during that stretch.
AL Rookie of the Year (Zachary Rymer's Ballot)
3 of 18
Ballot
1. Gunnar Henderson, BAL
2. Tanner Bibee, CLE
3. Triston Casas, BOS
Henderson generated almost twice as much rWAR as the next-best AL rookie hitter, which is remarkable given that he was batting under .200 as late as May 29. Casas was under .200 as late as June 12 in his own right, and then hit .313 and fell just 14 points shy of a 1.000 OPS the rest of the way. He might have even been the favorite here if his defense at first base wasn't face-meltingly bad,
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NL Rookie of the Year (Kerry Miller's Ballot)
4 of 18
Ballot
1. Corbin Carroll, ARI
2. Kodai Senga, NYM
3. Nolan Jones, COL
From the way the commentators during Arizona's postseason run kept heralding Carroll as the inevitable NL Rookie of the Year, you'd think there weren't any other halfway decent candidates here. But Senga was excellent in his debut year in the majors. And nowhere near enough people realized what a great season Jones had for the Rockies. Despite not getting called up until late May, he was one of just five players to hit at least .295 with 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases. The others were Acuña, Ohtani, Freeman and Bellinger. Not too shabby.
NL Rookie of the Year (Joel Reuter's Ballot)
5 of 18
Ballot
1. Corbin Carroll, ARI
2. Kodai Senga, NYM
3. Nolan Jones, COL
Carroll was baseball's best rookie in what was the deepest crop of newcomers we've seen in years. He became the first 25-homer, 50-steal rookie in baseball history while helping carry the D-backs to an unlikely World Series appearance. Almost any other year, Senga would have been an easy choice for the award, and he will likely also receive a handful of down-ballot votes for NL Cy Young.
NL Rookie of the Year (Zachary Rymer's Ballot)
6 of 18
Ballot
1. Corbin Carroll, ARI
2. Kodai Senga, NYM
3. Nolan Jones, COL
A fun fact about Carroll is that he scored 44 percent of the time he got on base this year, higher than even Acuña. Good power and otherworldly speed will do that for you. As to other matters, what I don't get is why James Outman is a finalist for the NL Rookie of the Year instead of Jones. Outman played in more games, sure, but he was mostly middling while Jones brandished a heck of a rake in posting a rookie-leading 138 OPS+.
AL Cy Young (Kerry Miller's Ballot)
7 of 18
Ballot
1. Gerrit Cole, NYY
2. Sonny Gray, MIN
3. Shohei Ohtani, LAA
4. Félix Bautista, BAL
5. George Kirby, SEA
The Yankees stunk, but Cole very much did not. And he simply didn't have many challengers for his long-awaited Cy Young trophy. If both Ohtani and Bautista had been able to survive the season with UCLs intact, maybe it's a different story. But shoutout to Kirby for an absurd 9.1 K/BB ratio. It's going to seem like we're cool with lots of walks when we get into the NL Cy Young discussion, but limiting free passes is a wonderful thing. He's one of just four pitchers since 1995 to log at least 150 innings with a K/BB ratio of 9.0 or greater.
AL Cy Young (Joel Reuter's Ballot)
8 of 18
Ballot
1. Gerrit Cole, NYY
2. Sonny Gray, MIN
3. Luis Castillo, SEA
4. Kyle Bradish, BAL
5. Kevin Gausman, TOR
With a pair of runner-up finishes in 2019 and 2021 and five total top-five finishes, Cole might be the best active pitcher to never win a Cy Young Award, but that will almost certainly change with this year's vote. The importance of Bradish emerging as the ace of the young Orioles is still worthy of recognition, though it was awfully tempting to put Félix Bautista on here as well.
AL Cy Young (Zachary Rymer's Ballot)
9 of 18
Ballot
1. Gerrit Cole, NYY
2. Sonny Gray, MIN
3. Pablo López, MIN
4. Kevin Gausman, TOR
5. Luis Castillo, SEA
Cole led the American League in innings, ERA and hits allowed per nine innings, so...yeah, he's going to win here. And while Gray should be the runner-up, I had to think about whether I preferred López more for the No. 2 spot. As much as I like Gray's 2.79 ERA, López pitched 10 more innings and led all AL qualifiers in expected ERA.
NL Cy Young (Kerry Miller's Ballot)
10 of 18
Ballot
1. Blake Snell, SD
2. Logan Webb, SF
3. Kodai Senga, NYM
4. Justin Steele, CHC
5. Spencer Strider, ATL
For the best Houdini act of all-time—leading the majors in ERA while "leading" the majors in walk rate—Snell should and likely will win the NL Cy Young. But if we're going to crown Snell for that, I sure hope Senga gets some down-ballot love for being Snell Lite, because here comes your fun fact of the day. Since the mound was lowered after the 1968 season, the only pitchers to have a season with at least 110 IP, at least 10 K/9, at least 4 BB/9 and a sub-3.00 ERA were: 2023 Snell, 2023 Senga and Nolan Ryan three times (1972, 1973 and 1977.)
NL Cy Young (Joel Reuter's Ballot)
11 of 18
Ballot
1. Blake Snell, SD
2. Logan Webb, SF
3. Kodai Senga, NYM
4. Justin Steele, CHC
5. Zac Gallen, ARI
Gaylord Perry, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Roy Halladay and Max Scherzer—that's the exclusive group Snell is poised to join as the only pitchers in MLB history to win a Cy Young Award in both leagues. Webb led the majors with 216 innings pitched and tied with Gerrit Cole for second in the majors with 24 quality starts in 33 outings.
NL Cy Young (Zachary Rymer's Ballot)
12 of 18
Ballot
1. Blake Snell, SD
2. Logan Webb, SF
3. Spencer Strider, ATL
4. Zack Wheeler, PHI
5. Zac Gallen, ARI
I don't like that Snell led the majors with 99 walks or that he didn't even average six innings per start. But the 23-start run he went on after May 25 was legit one of the best of all time, as he posted a 1.20 ERA and didn't give up more than three runs in any of them. The hard part was choosing between my fellow Zacharys for those last two spots, but I was pulled more toward Wheeler's huge xERA advantage than to Gallen's slight edges in innings and ERA.
AL MVP (Kerry Miller's Ballot)
13 of 18
Ballot
1. Shohei Ohtani, LAA
2. Corey Seager, TEX
3. Gerrit Cole, NYY
4. Julio Rodríguez, SEA
5. Marcus Semien, TEX
6. Gunnar Henderson, BAL
7. Yandy Díaz, TB
8. Aaron Judge, NYY
9. Yordan Alvarez, HOU
10. Luis Robert Jr., CWS
I have no clue if there has ever been a unanimous No. 1 AND a unanimous No. 2 in an MVP vote, but it really should be 420 points for Ohtani and 270 points for Seager as the clear hierarchy in this pseudo two-horse race. The only real drama here is where Julio Rodríguez lands because of the impact it has on Seattle's 2030 club option in his megadeal. He finished seventh in the vote last season, and another top-10 finish (which he absolutely should receive) would already drive up the price of that option from eight years, $200 million to eight years, $240 million.
AL MVP (Joel Reuter's Ballot)
14 of 18
Ballot
1. Shohei Ohtani, LAA
2. Corey Seager, TEX
3. Julio Rodríguez, SEA
4. Yandy Díaz, TB
5. Kyle Tucker, HOU
6. Adley Rutschman, BAL
7. Marcus Semien, TEX
8. José Ramírez, CLE
9. Bobby Witt Jr., KC
10. Luis Robert Jr., CWS
In a more wide-open race, it would be interesting to see if voters would actually give Seager the AL MVP trophy when he only played in 119 games. His 75 extra-base hits and 6.9 WAR when he was on the field carried as much weight as any player in baseball, and he's a deserving runner-up behind what should be a unanimous win for Ohtani. The Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays won 101 and 99 games, respectively, so it only seems right that their respective most valuable players would crack the top 10.
AL MVP (Zachary Rymer's Ballot)
15 of 18
Ballot
1. Shohei Ohtani, LAA
2. Marcus Semien, TEX
3. Julio Rodríguez, SEA
4. Corey Seager, TEX
5. Gerrit Cole, NYY
6. Adley Rutschman, BAL
7. Yordan Alvarez, HOU
8. Aaron Judge, NYY
9. Kyle Tucker, HOU
10. Bobby Witt Jr., KC
The correlation between WAR and MVP voting is now so consistently high that you have to wonder how much critical thinking is involved anymore. But as much as I wanted to force a protest vote on Ohtani, who had 2.6 more rWAR than any other AL player, I just couldn't do it. Semien is great, but this was probably the third-best of the three seasons for which he's been an MVP finalist.
NL MVP (Kerry Miller's Ballot)
16 of 18
Ballot
1. Ronald Acuña Jr., ATL
2. Mookie Betts, LAD
3. Freddie Freeman, LAD
4. Matt Olson, ATL
5. Corbin Carroll, ARI
6. Luis Arraez, MIA
7. Juan Soto, SD
8. Austin Riley, ATL
9. Francisco Lindor, NYM
10. Cody Bellinger, CHC
Best month of the 2023 season goes to Betts for the rampage he went on in August. But best overall season goes to Acuña, and it's not even close in my opinion. When you lead the majors in hits, runs, stolen bases and on-base percentage and, oh yeah, hit 41 home runs with 106 RBI as a leadoff hitter, you're pretty swell in my book.
NL MVP (Joel Reuter's Ballot)
17 of 18
Ballot
1. Ronald Acuña Jr., ATL
2. Mookie Betts, LAD
3. Freddie Freeman, LAD
4. Matt Olson, ATL
5. Corbin Carroll, ARI
6. Juan Soto, SD
7. Cody Bellinger, CHC
8. Francisco Lindor, NYM
9. Luis Arraez, MIA
10. Austin Riley, ATL
The NL MVP race became a hot debate during the second half when Betts hit .455/.516/.839 with 10 doubles, 11 home runs and 33 RBI in 28 games during August, but Acuña had the better overall year for what was unquestionably baseball's best team during the regular season. The Freeman vs. Olson debate for best first baseman of the 2023 season and No. 3 player on the NL ballot is also a compelling one, and I give the nod to Freeman on the strength of his superior batting average and absurd 90 extra-base hits.
NL MVP (Zachary Rymer's Ballot)
18 of 18
Ballot
1. Ronald Acuna Jr., ATL
2. Mookie Betts, LAD
3. Corbin Carroll, ARI
4. Matt Olson, ATL
5. Freddie Freeman, LAD
6. Blake Snell, SD
7. Logan Webb, SF
8. Francisco Lindor, NYM
9. Juan Soto, SD
10. Cody Bellinger, CHC
Not to cast stones or anything, but I think Mike Petriello of MLB.com doomed Betts' MVP chances. After he published his article outlining Betts' case for the award on Aug. 29, Acuña finished by hitting .350 with three times as many home runs as Betts. I suppose the only other thing I have to explain is why I'm so high on Carroll, and it's because he lapped the field in Championship Win Probability Added.
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