Looking Into the Crystal Ball: Predicting the 2020 MLB Award Winners
Even though the start of the season is in question, let’s make some predictions about the 2020 MLB award winners
It’s hard to think about the 2020 MLB award winners as early as the month of March, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic has put the start of the baseball season in limbo (for good reason). The league is looking at several possibilities on how to avoid total disruption to the MLB schedule. They’re even discussing extending the end of the season in case early games need to be postponed. It’s impossible to forecast what the first few weeks of the season will look like for baseball teams and their fans. That’s why we’re going to fast forward to October – which for the first time ever, feels somewhat more predictable than the month of April…
Last year, Mike Trout took home his fourth American League MVP award, while Cody Bellinger lived up to his hype by capturing his first. On the pitching side, Jacob Degrom became the 11th pitcher to win back-to-back Cy Youngs and Justin Verlander continued to build on his Hall of Fame career by winning his second. Yordan Alvarez and Pete Alonso bashed their way to lightly contested Rookie of the Year Awards. The 2019 Manager of the Years Rocco Baldelli and Mike Shildt proved that experience isn’t always needed, as the two won awards with fewer than 400 games MLB games managed between them.
It’s time to look into the crystal ball and predict which winners the 2020 season will produce. Will the 2019 winners be able to build on last year’s success, or will we have new winners? Will those new winners be the usual suspects or will there be new names that have jumped into the fray for baseball’s most prestigious individual awards? Without further ado, let’s get the 2020 MLB award winners predictions going.
National League MVP: Ronald Acuna
After finishing fifth in voting for the 2019 MVP award, 2020 will be the star outfielder’s time to bring home some hardware. Acuna took “the leap” last season, finishing with 41 home runs, 101 RBIs, and scoring 127 runs. He also managed to steal 37 bags, coming up only three swipes short of a 40-40 season all at the age of 21 years old.
Another year of maturity, and the expectation that Acuna will once again hit at the top of a top-heavy Braves lineup which will provide him all the opportunity in the world is why he will go on to win his first MVP award. If he stays healthy, 100 runs and 100 RBI’s should be a near lock. He should also be able to successfully become the 40-40 man that he almost became last year.
Acuna will get a challenge from the two previous NL MVPs, Cody Bellinger, and Christian Yelich, but the Braves right fielder will prove to be the cream of the crop in a talented National League when he also adds an outfield Gold Glove to his potent offensive numbers.
American League MVP: Mike Trout – Los Angeles Angels
Last year, Call to the Pen wondered: “Who can challenge Mike Trout for MVP?”. The eventual answer was, no one. Obviously there’s nothing exciting about this pick, but the eventual resumption of the 2020 season will mark the beginning of Mike Trout’s fifth MVP campaign.
In his nine seasons, the Angels’ right fielder has already compiled a higher career WAR of all but 49 Hall of Famers. Trout hasn’t finished below fourth in MVP voting in his entire career, and that season was the lone time that he didn’t finish within the top two. The guy was put on earth to play baseball.
After slashing .291/.438/.645 along with 45 home runs and 100+ runs and RBIs last season, the Angels provided him with a new toy for 2020, former Washington Nationals MVP candidate, Anthony Rendon. Healthier versions of Shohei Ohtani and Justin Upton should also be able to add to his run total.
As Trout matures in strength and experience, maybe this is the year that he manages to reach the 50 home run plateau for the first time in his career. Regardless, Trout better make some more room on his mantle.
National League Cy Young: Jacob deGrom – New York Mets
Another boring pick, but it will the accurate one. That’s not to say that DeGrom won’t have his challengers, the National League is stacked with young talented arms. Jack Flaherty, Walker Buehler, and those two aces in Washington are all pretty good, but none will be able to surpass the Mets right hander in 2020.
Last season, deGrom picked up his second consecutive Cy Young award after being lights out for a very non-supportive New York Mets team (for the second consecutive time…). Win total notwithstanding, he led baseball in pretty much every other conceivable metric. His 7.9 WAR was the highest among pitchers, and his 255 strikeouts led the senior circuit.
Not that he needs much help, but the Mets will bring back a more mature lineup this year, which should help deGrom improve on that win total. Come September, we will be asking ourselves the same question that Joseph Romano of Call to the Pen asked last year. The NL Cy Young will definitely prove to be a heated race, but when the dust settles, DeGrom will join Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson to become just the third pitcher ever to win three consecutive Cy Young awards.
American League Cy Young: Shane Bieber – Cleveland Indians
A new face in a crowded race! Bieber took the American League by storm last year, compiling 15 wins, 258 strikeouts, and a 3.28 earned run average. In just his second season, the righty made his first all-star game and even managed to take home All-Star Game MVP honors in the process.
Going into his third season, the 24 year old is going to look to make the jump to stardom (if he hasn’t already…). With the trades of Corey Kluber & Trevor Bauer, Cleveland has anointed Bieber its ace pitcher for the 2020 season, a role the Orange County native is ready to thrive in. The Tribe’s lineup should be there to support him, namely Francisco Lindor, whose bat is ready to scream “pay me!”
Bieber certainly doesn’t go into the season as the front runner to win this award. The preseason favorites Gerrit Cole and Zach Greinke are going to give the Tribe’s ace all he can handle – but in the end, Bieber is going to shock the baseball world en route to his first Cy Young.
National League Rookie of the Year: Gavin Lux – Los Angeles Dodgers
Dodgers fans and the fantasy baseball world screamed and begged for Gavin Lux’s call up last season. The National League’s favorite Los Angeles Dodgers were in no dire straits to promote their prized middle infield prospect. Finally on September 2nd, after months of tearing up the minor leagues, the Wisconsin native got the call. In 23 games, Lux managed to hit a respectable, but not great, .240. Most importantly, he showed that he belonged. This is the year he’ll show that he stands out.
2020 brings a different but similar outlook for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Once again, the team is the favorite to not only win the NL West, but to win the National League outright. What’s different about this year are all of the new faces. Joining Lux to start the season in Dodger blue will be former AL MVP Mookie Betts. Together the two are primed to jolt-start an L.A. lineup that didn’t really need more help jolt-starting. Lux will benefit from hitting atop a stacked lineup, and use his elite hitting skills to propel him to the best season of all of the NL first-years.
Thanks to Lux’s work in 2020, the Dodgers’ prestigious history of Rookie of the Year awards will continue. The team’s winners include back to back recipients Cody Bellinger and Seager, an astounding six consecutive honors in the ’90s (1992-1996) and another four in a row between 1979-82. The award is even named after Brooklyn Dodgers great, Jackie Robinson. That’s some pretty great company.
American League Rookie of the Year: Luis Robert – Chicago White Sox
The preseason third overall prospect according to MLB.com is going to begin 2020 in the spotlight. The 22 year old Cuban import signed a 6 year-50 million dollar extension over the off-season before ever playing a game in the major leagues. Being hailed as one of the new faces of the new-look White Sox, Robert has already prematurely been called “The Next Mike Trout” by fellow White Sox young star Eloy Jimenez. The expectations are certainly high for Robert, but there’s a lot to suggest that he’s up to the task of becoming the next great star of the South Side.
Robert tore up the minor leagues in 2019. He kept forcing the team’s hand to move him up the ladder, perhaps quicker than they initially intended to. After hitting .453 in high-A, the righty embarrassed AA pitching, hitting .314 and stealing 21 bags in 56 games. Robert’s 2019 ended in Charlotte where he crushed 16 home runs in 47 games for the White Sox AAA club.
After spending a ton of money in the off-season, the revamped White Sox won’t be able to sneak up on anyone. The same can be said about Robert’s place in the line-up where he won’t be hitting in a premier spot to the start of the season. His talent, however, will force the hands of the White Sox brass to move him up the order, where he will not only become the face of the team but perhaps be the guy who leads them to the playoffs, en route to American Rookie of the Year honors.
National League Manager of the Year: Luis Rojas – New York Mets
Perhaps the boldest prediction on this list, the Mets skipper wasn’t even the Mets skipper until the Houston Astros sign-stealing cheating scandal took down the more celebrated hire, Carlos Beltran. Beltran’s attention to detail and his ability to make in-game adjustments were going to turn the Mets into long-term contenders (cheating perhaps being the reason why he was so efficient in those departments…). Instead, Beltran was removed from his position before managing his first game, and Luis Rojas, the team’s quality control coach was given the job.
Rojas may not have been the team’s first option, but he’ll end up becoming the best option. As the son of long-time Expos and Giants skipper Felipe Alou, the 38 year old has managing in his blood. He also had successful stints as manager of the Leones del Escogido of the Dominican Professional Baseball League and of the New York Mets AA affiliate, the Binghamton Rumble Ponies.
Rojas will have many weapons at his disposal, specifically a talented pitching staff, led by Cy Young winner Jacob DeGrom and the God of Thunder, Noah Syndergaard. The lineup, led by Pete Alonso will have some thunder of its own. Though not the favorites in the NL East, the Mets have the talent to sneak up on the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies – perhaps even surpassing them, which would force voters to seriously consider Rojas, the man that not even his own team wanted, as the National League Manager of the Year.
American League Manager of the Year: Charlie Montoyo – Toronto Blue Jays
For the first time since Bobby Cox won the honor in 1985, the AL Manager of the Year will be working out of Toronto.
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Charlie Montoyo had a difficult task in 2019, trying to lead a rebuilding Blue Jays team against the gauntlet known as the American League East. The Jays had a rough season, going 67-95 in a year that was filled with injuries and growing pains for its talented, but inexperienced core.
2020 will be the year that the Blue Jays learn to fly again. Led by the hitting trio of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, and Cavan Biggio, the team will easily improve on last years win total, enough to even threaten in the Wild Card race. The starting rotation, after newly signed ace Hyun-Jin Ryu and prized prospect Tanner Pearson, isn’t spectacular on paper but its filled with arms that have been capable of throwing a lot of innings in the Majors; a weakness on last years club.
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Montoyo is going to have the weapons and the circumstances to lead the Jays to drastic improvements and even challenge the Red Sox and Montoyo’s former team, the Rays for second place in the division. These improvements will earn the well-traveled Montoyo, Manager of the Year accolades.