Ryan Braun For MVP

Sometimes it seems as if Ryan Braun hasn’t made an out since August. Any groundballs to second or fly outs to left have been overshadowed by baseballs smashing into outfield walls or zooming over them.

Throughout September, gazing at box scores, watching TV highlights, or sitting in a stadium live-and-in-person when the Milwaukee Brewers played, I followed Braun doing his best Babe Ruth impersonation. He was always at least two-for-something, if not three-for-the game with a walk thrown in here and there.

My wife is a general baseball fan, meaning she knows the names of the players on the team in the closest Major League town and some stars. She didn’t know Ryan Braun from Eva Braun or Ryan Seacrest. We were sitting in the stands at the Great American Ball Park for a late-season game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brewers when Braun’s turn at bat arrived. I told her, “This guy is really good and he’s hot.” Next pitch Braun slammed over the left-field wall for a homer.

I must admit that I never thought Ryan Braun would be this good. Don’t ask me why. His 2007 National League rookie-of-the-year season should have been a clue. He batted .324 with 34 home runs, 97 RBIs, 15 stolen bases, and led the league with a .634 slugging percentage. He was 23. I can’t say I consciously considered it a fluke. I just didn’t consider it at all that there was a brand-new superstar in our midst.

I am convinced now. After five seasons in the bigs, the 6-foot-1, 210-pound Braun is one of the most complete players out there. He has no weaknesses at the plate and adapted to a lineup shift from third base to left field. His resume includes four seasons batting more than .300, four seasons hititng more than 30 home runs and four seasons knocking in more than 100 runs. This year he cracked 33 homers, drove in 111 runs, and batted .332. For a while I thought he was going to win the batting title.

Ordinarily, the National League MVP discussion begins and ends with the Cardinals’ Albert Pujols. But Albert had an off-year and last year’s winner, Joey Votto, who nearly duplicated his 2010 performance, couldn’t carry a weaker Reds club. Any MVP debate for the NL this year is bounded by the dimensions of the Brewers’ clubhouse. It is either Braun or Prince Fielder and I lean towards Braun for being more versatile than the behemoth slugger who looks as if he should join CC Sabathia on the same weight-loss plan. It’s hard to believe that the portly Fielder is a vegetarian. He must eat entire forests in his salads.

Fielder didn’t make any friends by announcing weeks ago that when his contract is up after the season he is out of there no matter how many cases of Miller Lite the Brewers are willing to throw into any multi-million-dollar, multi-year offer. The Brewers were still trying to clinch their division title. Of course they won the NL Central and seem likely to reach the National League Championship Series. They could even win the World Series. That’s not far-fetched. And if Fielder gets on the next plane out of town he won’t be able to say it’s because he wants to play someplace where there is a chance to win.

Meanwhile, in 2008, when they were betting more on potential than track record, the Brewers signed Braun to an 8-year contract that could pay him $50 million. That blew me away, but the Brewers knew what they were doing. They looked ahead and saw a future MVP. The future is now.