New York Mets: 5 Reasons Jose Reyes Is the NL MVP

Jose Reyes is having the best year of his career. Coming into the season, there were doubts about whether Reyes was still an elite shortstop.

He has disproved those thoughts and now people have begun to wonder if he is the best shortstop in the NL. It goes even further than that as Reyes is deserving of the NL MVP Award.

Reyes Is the Most Electric Player in Baseball

There is no one in the MLB that is more exciting to watch than Jose Reyes. He routinely turns doubles into triples and he makes outstanding defensive plays.

Reyes is able to put fans in the seats with his outstanding playmaking abilities.

Reyes Is a Spark Plug for the Mets

The Mets would be absolutely lost without Jose Reyes this season. He sets the table for the team and is the reason why they have a chance to make the playoffs this year.

Reyes has scored 65 runs through just 79 games this season. This puts Reyes on pace to score 133 runs this season. The last time that a player scored over 130 runs in a season was in 2007 when Alex Rodriguez scored 143 runs.

Reyes Leads the NL in Multiple Statistical Categories

Reyes has been fantastic this season. There is no other way to put it. He currently leads the National League in four major statistical categories.

With 15 triples, Reyes is blowing away the rest of the majors in this category. Reyes has nearly twice as many triples as Shane Victorino who is in second place. He also leads the NL with 64 runs scored. Reyes also has an NL leading 117 hits as well as a .349 average which is good for second best in the Majors behind Adrian Gonzalez.

Reyes Leads the NL in WAR

WAR is a sabermetric statistic that attempts to find the best way to value everything that a player does on the field. This includes their statistics at the plate, in the field, and on the base paths.

Before his four-hit game against the Tigers, Reyes had a 4.7 WAR which was the best in the National League and was only behind Jose Bautista for the MLB lead. His WAR only increased after his outstanding game.

Reyes Is Having a Career Year

Reyes doesn't have the home run numbers this year. He only has three this year but he has found other ways to drive in runs. He has hit for an impressive amount of triples and is on pace to hit an absurd 31 triples this year. He also has 21 doubles this year.

Reyes has a career-high .528 slugging percentage right now. This is obviously behind Matt Kemp's .629 slugging percentage, but Reyes is not a power hitter. He bats in the leadoff spot for the Mets. He is demonstrating much more power than leadoff hitters are expected to.