MLB Awards Watch: Top 5 NL MVP candidates through July

Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports

With the end of July comes the end of the trade deadline and while no NL MVP candidates were given the ol’ heave-ho, a lot of teams shook up their lineup and built around some potential NL MVP candidates.

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The all-star break robbed us of a handful of days and as such, power numbers were down, but that effected everyone equally.

The month of July saw two long-time NL MVP candidates from years past burst back onto the scene and remind everyone that they are still relevant and they deserve to be noticed.

The first of which is Joey Votto. In the month of July, the Red’s first baseman hit .405 with five home runs and 13 RBIs. While his season totals still do not beg for any NL MVP recognition, not to mention he plays for a non-contender like the Cincinatti Reds, Votto was an NL MVP for the month of July, and there is something in that, albeit not much.

Carlos Gonzalez re-emerged as well after a very sub-par season and while a trade seemed likely, with the Rockies he will remain. CarGo absolutely demolished with 11 home runs and 24 RBIs in the month to go along with a .386 batting average. His season totals got a major kick upwards as he now has 21 home runs but he has work to do and playing on the Rockies is not doing him any favors.

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Anthony Rizzo is inching closer to contention as well, as he narrowly missed out on landing on the list. His .290 average with 20 home runs and 60 RBIs is impressive, but they did not make the cut just yet.

Aside from that, very few non-MVP candidates burst onto the scene. Likewise, despite some stinker months from some of the top five from last month, there was not a lot of external shuffling. Giancarlo Stanton dropped out of the list, not because of any fault of his but because another simply surpassed him.

There is some re-arranging to do with a new month of stats and contributions to factor in, so let’s get started.

Next: Number 5