Los Angeles Angels: How should award voters treat a two-way player?
A two-way player could potentially be the by definition “most valuable player” without putting up any particularly eye-popping numbers. In that case, how should annual award voters treat someone like Los Angeles Angels phenom Shohei Ohtani?
True two-way players are rare in MLB. Babe Ruth regularly started as a pitcher and in the outfield in 1919. More common are pitchers who hit well like Madison Bumgarner. Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy even had him hit for himself as designated hitter in a game against the Athletics in 2016. Los Angeles Angels phenom Shohei Ohtani appears early in 2018 like he may be successful playing both ways—he hit three home runs and struck out 12 hitters in four games.
Should Shohei Ohtani — or any other two-way player — have success on both sides of the ball, how should award voters treat them?
Judging overall value
Basing a player’s overall value to a team seems like the most intuitive way of evaluating whether or not he deserves an award—specifically for awards like Rookie of the Year and MVP. After all, that’s what those awards are meant to recognize.
However, the issue with judging this hypothetical player according to their overall value could lead to awarding a player without any eye-popping statistics. If they’re just a little above average on both sides of the ball, they may look like the MVP according to WAR and fWAR. But they also may be hitting .260 and record a season ERA of 4.00. While respectable numbers, they aren’t exactly what you’d traditionally expect from award-winning seasons.
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Treating the player like two different players
In recent years, MVPs have been reserved to position players. Only two pitchers have won the MVP award since 1991. Instead, one pitcher from each league is honored with the Cy Young Award.
It might make sense for award voters to judge candidates separately based on their hitting and pitching prowess. This would allow for players with more traditional award-winning metrics to win.
But the issue with going that route is obviously that it would allow for a situation where an MVP award goes to a player who is not actually the most valuable in their league.
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If the time comes, different voters will have different ideas of how to treat a two-way. But if a player does truly succeed on both sides of the ball, they’ll deserve to be recognized in someway. The Los Angeles Angels may have that player.