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One very peculiar MVP vote for a member of the San Francisco Giants

By Noah Yingling |
Oct 14, 2021; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants right fielder LaMonte Wade Jr. (31) reacts after being called out on strikes against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the ninth inning in game five of the 2021 NLDS at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 14, 2021; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants right fielder LaMonte Wade Jr. (31) reacts after being called out on strikes against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the ninth inning in game five of the 2021 NLDS at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports

Each and every season, for the awards voted upon by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA), there are always some peculiar votes which are, fortunately and most often, further down on the ballot. It most frequently happens on the MVP ballots, since BBWAA voters get to vote for 10 players. That happened again this season and it was for a member of the San Francisco Giants: LaMonte Wade Jr.

Wade Jr. received a 10th place vote from San Francisco Giants writer Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic. You can see his entire ballot, as well as the rest of the BBWAA votes for National League MVP, here.

There are a few reasons why San Francisco Giants outfielder LaMonte Wade Jr. should not have received any NL MVP votes.

San Francisco Giants outfielder LaMonte Wade Jr. should not have received any NL MVP votes from the BBWAA voters for a few reasons.

First off, the 27-year-old only played in 109 games and started in just 83 games. Second, he was not particularly great on offense. He hit .253/.326/.482 with an OPS+ of 117. Third, he was not great defensively, as he had -1 Defensive Runs Saved.

Wade Jr. had a 1.2 rWAR and a 1.6 fWAR. That fWAR is tied for 73rd among NL position players and, if you include pitchers, that would tie him for 93rd in the NL in fWAR.

By rWAR, Wade Jr.’s WAR was not even in the top 10 on his own team. He was 18th on the Giants team. These are the players of Wade Jr. in rWAR on the Giants:

  1. Brandon Crawford, 6.1 rWAR
  2. Kevin Gausman, 5.4
  3. Anthony DeSclafani, 3.9
  4. Logan Webb, 3.9
  5. Buster Posey, 3.5
  6. Darin Ruf, 2.9
  7. Brandon Belt, 2.7
  8. Mike Yastrzemski, 2.5
  9. Tyler Rogers, 2.4
  10. Steven Duggar, 2.2
  11. Dominic Leone, 1.8
  12. Evan Longoria, 1.8
  13. Wilmer Flores, 1.7
  14. Jarlin García, 1.6
  15. Austin Slater, 1.4
  16. José Álvarez, 1.3
  17. Alex Wood, 1.3
  18. LaMonte Wade Jr. 1.2

Wade Jr. also did not have a particularly hot stretch to end the season either, so it wasn’t necessarily a recency bias. He slashed .260/.327/.412 in his final 42 games and, in his final 13 games, he posted a slash line of .175/.222/.200.

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It was a 10th-place vote so it did not impact any of the finalists. However, it is likely 2021’s oddest vote from a BBWAA voter.

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