National League Regular Season Awards

Pardon My Bias Bleacher ReportAug 29, 2010

Here are my picks for the Rookie of the Year, Cy Young, and MVP of the National league.

Rookie of the Year

Coming into the season, the heavy favorite to win this award was Atlanta Braves outfielder Jason Heyward. Heyward has had a decent offensive rookie season as he has posted a .272 avg, 15 HR, 58 RBI, .466 Slugging percentage (SLG), and .851 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) statline. But his strikeout total of 100 is almost equal to his hit total of 108 and that is not good news for his rookie campaign. While Heyward had really good stats in May and July he had sub-par months in April, June, and August. In fact, Heyward batted a measly .181 in June when he struck out 32 times while only getting 17 hits in the month.

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Washington Nationals v Los Angeles Angels

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The other candidate for this award is last years #1 draft pick, Washington Nationals starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg. Strasburg definitely lived up to the hype when he made his MLB debut on June 8th when he struck out 14 Pirates in 7 innings while giving up 2 earned runs in his first victory. Strasburg continued to excel in his starts until his arm issues that revealed a tear in his ulnar collateral ligament. This injury requires Tommy John surgery and 12-18 months of rehab, and put an end to Strasburg’s rookie campaign. Strasburg finishe 5-3 with a 2.91 ERA and 92 K’s in 68 IP. If Strasburg was able to finish the year off, there is a possibility he could have won this award.

Unfortunately for Strasburg, this award is going to Giants catcher Buster Posey. Since being called up to the majors on May 29th, Posey has been nothing short of sensational. In this past post I talked about the difficulty of becoming an the everyday catcher for a MLB team, especially one that is in the playoff hunt. But Posey has been able to seamlessly fit in and has been extremely consistent on the offensive end. While he hasn’t developed into a power hitter this season, he does seem to get his bat on the ball and this was evidenced by his 21 game hit streak, just one game short of the rookie record help by Willie McCovey. Posey has posted a .329 avg with 10 HR, and 49 RBI while having a .505 SLG and a .877 OPS. Posey has been solid on the defensive end by having a .989 Fielding percentage, an excellent mark for a rookie catcher. Buster Posey is my pick for the 2010 NL Rookie of the Year.

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NL Cy Young

While Ubaldo Jimenez and Tim Lincecum got off to good starts this year, Lincecum has faded as of late and Jimenez’s stats (17-5, 176 IP, 160 K’s, and 2.71 ERA) just aren’t as good as the top two candidates for this award. Adam Wainwright and Roy Halladay are having amazing year and their team’s are still in playoff contention unlike Jimenez’s Rockies. Wainwright has been solid all year long and has pitched to a 17-8 record in 190 innings while striking out 171 batters and posting a 2.18 ERA including 2 shut outs. Wainwright leads the NL is ranked 1st in Wins and ERA, 2nd in WHIP and Complete games, 3rd in Innings pitched, and 4th in Strikeouts. Even though Wainwright has lost his last 2 starts, he pitched into the 7th inning in both games and has produced quality starts both times. In fact, in his last 10 starts Wainwright has had 0 earned runs in 5 of the starts. Wainwright is doing all he can to keep his Cardinals in contention. Halladay is a past Cy Young winner and he knows exactly what it takes to win the award. As the ace of the Phillies, Halladay has gone 16-9 while pitching 207 innings while striking out 186 batters and posting a 2.22 ERA. Halladay leads the NL in Strikeouts, Innings Pitched, and Complete Games, 2nd in ERA, and 3rd in Wins and WHIP. Halladay has been as consistent as ever and is looking to record his 3rd 20 win season and win his 2nd Cy Young while finally being on a contender with a shot to be in the playoffs for the first time in his career. After sitting at 10-8 on July 18th Halladay has lowered his ERA from 2.40 to 2.22 while winning 6 of his last 7 starts. This is a tough choice but given his past credentials and his current hot streak I’m going to have to pick Roy Halladay for the 2010 NL Cy Young winner.

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NL MVP

This is another two man race between two very qualified candidates. Both players have had exceptional seasons and are both in contention for the NL Triple Crown (which is given to the player who leads the NL in HRs, RBIs, and Batting average at the end of the season). One player is a 3-time MVP while the other is a surprise player this year and both have their teams in contention to win the NL Central. Albert Pujols and Joey Votto are my top two picks for the NL MVP this season, and I’m sure that comes as no surprise to anyone.

Pujols has own the last two MVPs and 3 of the last 5 and is looking to add to his collection. This season is a typical Pujols season and he will continue his streak of 30 HRs and 100 RBIs for the 10th straight season. This season Pujols has hit .320 while belting 35 homers and driving 94 runs while having a .609 SLG and a 1.022 OPS while striking out only 59 times. He leads the NL in HR, RBI, SLG, and Runs while being 2nd in walks, OBP, and OPS and Pujols is also 3rd in batting average this season. Pujols has once again showed that he is one of the best hitters in the game today and he is also one of the best leaders. He kept the Cardinals in playoff contention and they look to close the gap on the Reds NL Central lead as the season winds down. But the Reds have an MVP candidate of their own.

Joey Votto has been a surprise MVP candidate this year for the surprising Cincinatti Reds. Votto has played amazing while posting a .326 average, 32 HRs, 92 RBIs, .604 SLG, and 1.027 OBP. But the one thing seperating Votto and Pujols is the larger number times Votto has struck out. Votto has struck out 100 times compared to Pujols striking out only 59 times, and at the end of the day this does hurt his MVP campaign. While Votto is the offensive leader for the Reds and a triple crown threat, it is really hard to go against Albert Pujols and his consistency over the past decade. While it is a tough choice, I believe the team that wins the NL Central should have the NL MVP, be it Pujols or Votto. And my guy tells me that the Reds will fade and the Cardinals will win the NL Central, and that is why I choose Albert Pujols for my 2010 NL MVP.