The Tale of the Triple Crown Winner Who Didn’t Win MVP

            Miguel Cabrera has had one of the most incredible offensive years that we’ve seen in a very long time. The man hit .330 this year with 44 home runs and 139 RBI en route to the Triple Crown (which is being the leader of all three of those statistical categories in the player’s respective league for you non-baseball people). This was the fastest in his career that he reached 100 RBI. It only took him 115 games to reach that feat. He has been more than impressive with his late power surge to overtake the home run lead from Josh Hamilton and lead the Detroit Tigers past the White Sox and into the playoffs. With the addition of Prince Fielder to hit clean-up behind Miguel, there is no doubt that he saw much better pitches to hit this year and he has definitely taken advantage. He has career highs in Home Runs, RBI, Slugging (.606), and On Base Plus Slugging (.999).To show how rare this season has been, the last player to win the Triple Crown was Carl Yastrzemski for the Boston Red Sox 45 years ago in 1967.

            Yet, the strangest thing about this season comes in the form of a 21-year-old kid in Los Angeles. Mike Trout came from absolutely no-where to begin this season and ended up electrifying the game. The season that was supposed to belong to Bryce Harper, the highly touted rookie that was a high school prodigy, actually belonged to Mike Trout. The quiet, humble speedster can do it all – hit home runs (30), drive runs in (83), hit for average (.326), steal bases (49), play great defense at all of the outfield positions, and most importantly as a leadoff man, score runs (129). Maybe the most important stat that shows how much a player means to a team is WAR, which stands for Wins Above Replacement. This stat shows how many wins a player earns for his team in a regular 162 game season compared to the person that replaces him. An MVP season is anything over an 8. Mike Trout had 10.7 Wins Above Replacement. Miguel Cabrera, by comparison, had a 7.4 WAR.

            Strictly based on offensive numbers, Miguel Cabrera has the slight lead on Mike Trout. He’s more of a pure hitter, better power, more of a clutch hitter, and drives a ton of runs in. Miguel Cabrera is also the team leader of the Detroit Tigers’ lineup with that patented smile that he is always wearing. But Mike Trout is the five tool player, and he has shown that he is much more complete than Miguel. He has a cannon arm, a great fielder, blinding speed and ability to impact the game on the base paths, hits for average, and hits for power. I don’t think I could describe a more prototypical player I would want to build a team around for the next 15 years than Mike Trout.

            Ultimately, it will be a very close call who wins the AL MVP. It really depends on what the voters think is more valuable – A slugger who led a team to the playoffs with an under producing team, or a quiet young gunner in the outfield who can do it all. Don’t be surprised if the Triple Crown Winner doesn’t come out on top.

*All Statistics Taken from Baseball-Reference.com*