Who wins the AL MVP?
Oakland Athletics SS Marcus Semien
2019 stats: 162 games .285/.369/.522 33 homers 92 RBI 10 steals 7.6 WAR
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Talk about a breakout season. The 29-year old Semien was more known as a defender rather than his bat, however, his bat did a lot of talking this season. Semien set career highs in all the major offensive categories, and was already known for being a stellar defender and certainly has a strong case for American League MVP.
Semien was third in the American League in runs and 10th in WRC+. He was third in doubles with 43 and tied for fourth in triples with seven. He also did something that only Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig have ever done in a season
Below is a list of players in Major League history with at least 116 runs, 173 hits, 38 doubles, 7 triples, 30 home runs, 85 RBI, 78 walks and 10 stolen bases in a season:
— Mike Selleck (@MikeSelleck) September 17, 2019
Babe Ruth (1921 and 1923)
Lou Gehrig (1927 and 1930)
Marcus Semien (2019)
Are these random endpoints? Sure. They are impressive nonetheless though.
In the end, I think Mike Trout wins the award. Some of it is on reputation, but you can’t discount how good he was even with missing the amount of time that he did. Bregman and Semien both had incredible years, but in the end, another year, another MVP trophy for Mike Trout