MLB MVP Awards 2019: Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger Wins NL & Angels’ Mike Trout Gets AL Title

Los Angeles is the MVP city this year apparently, as the Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger and Angels’ Mike Trout have won the MVP awards for their respective leagues, MLB announced on Thursday.

Bellinger received 19 of the 30 first place votes, with 10 second place votes. Trout received 17 of 30 first place votes.

Only in his third year in the league, Bellinger averaged .305 with 121 runs, 47 home runs and 115 RBI. He has now won the NL Rookie of the Year, become a two time All-Star, Silver Slugger award winner, Golden Glove, and MVP in only three seasons. He is one of four players to win the Rookie of the Year award, Golden Glove and MVP before the age of 25 (Hall of Famer Johnny Bench, Fred Lynn, and Dustin Pedroia are the others).

Last year’s winner, Milwaukee’s Christian Yelich finished with 10 first place votes. He finished batting .329 with 44 home runs, 97 RBI and 100 runs in a season shortened at the end by injury. Newly minted World Series winner Anthony Rendon got the last place vote with a .319, 34 HR, 117 R, and 126 RBI stat line.

Trout, who also finished his season early due to injury, batted .291 with 34 home runs, 110 runs, 104 RBI’s in only 470 at bats and led the league with a .438 on base percentage (he was on base 44% of the times he went to bat!). All five of the top MVP vote-getters were in the top five in OBPs.

This is Trout’s third MVP award, winning also in 2012 and 2016. At 28, he is an eight time All-Star with a list of awards too long to list. Yet unlike the other teams that the MVP candidates represent, the Angels are the only ones with a losing record. In the history of the MLB, the MVP has been typically given to a player of a playoff-bound team.

The second most first place votes in the AL behind Trout was Houston Astros’ Alex Bregman, whom many had predicted was neck and neck with Trout for the award. Bregman batted .296, 122 R, 41 HR, 112 RBI for the World Series-bound Astros. He got a World Series ring his second year in the league. He has improved his offensive numbers in almost every catergory since he entered the league in 2016.

Article by RJ De La Espriella