DJ LeMahieu has been extremely valuable to the New York Yankees in a season where they’ve suffered far too many injuries, but does he have what it takes to be awarded the AL MVP?
Looking back at all of the moves the New York Yankees made prior to the 2019 MLB season, signing DJ LeMahieu might just be the very best one. It’s not just that he’s having, arguably, the best season of his career, it’s the whole package.
Before we jump into all of the reasons why a case can be made for the AL MVP to be awarded to LeMahieu, let’s address TWO elephants in the room.
First, we must agree on a universal definition for MVP. Lucky for us, Baseball-Reference provides an explanation of the award and, surprisingly, it’s rather fair.
"The Most Valuable Player Award (or MVP) in Major League Baseball is given to a player in each league who has contributed the most to the success of the player’s team. It is awarded by the Baseball Writers Association of America. There have been three interations of MLB MVP awards. The first two were awarded in the 1910s and 1920s, however the award did not become an annual one until 1931."
Secondly, according to the aforementioned definition, Los Angeles Angels superstar Mike Trout is by far the best player in MLB this season, perhaps even all-time. He is also, if we use fWAR as a standard measure, contributing the most to the success — if that’s what you want to call it — of his team. At least, offensively.
However, what fun would it be if we just concede the award to Trout?
Look closer at a player’s contributions to a team this season and you could argue that it’s DJ LeMahieu who’s contributed the most to his team’s success. Here’s why: