al mvp race

Mauer, a catcher, is the best offensive player in the league this season, by any number of measures. That's historic.

No catcher has ever hit .370. (Dickey and Piazza each hit .362, oddly enough. That's the record for catchers.) Mauer: .378. That's historic.

How many catchers have ever led the league in batting average? One (Ernie Lombardi, who did it twice.) Mauer could win his third this year. That's historic.

No catcher has ever led the league in slugging. (Piazza finished second once.) Mauer (.641, 60 points ahead of Morales) will almost certainly be the first. That's historic.

How many catchers have ever led the league in on-base percentage? 2 -- Cochrane, 1930; Meyers, 1912. Mauer (.448, 30 points ahead of Youkilis) will almost certainly be the third. That's historic.

 

Mauer cheats on these figures by playing about 25% of his games as DH.

 

That's a good point. Any other year and he'd probably be the leading candidate.

Teixiera should barely be in the top three.

 

Saw this story and slide show. Hunter probably was the Angels MVP until he got hurt. Figgins has been awesome on offense and defense. Abreu has been steady all season.
Angels have had so many contriubutors, it's hard to narrow it down.


http://www.ocregister.com/articles/guerrero-vladimir-year-2530920-card-team

 

Great stuff, buck.

Unless you want to penalize Mauer for games missed, this shouldn't even be a debate. He's as much as lock for MVP in the AL as Albert is in the Senior Circuit.

 

i have NEVER said i think a yankee should be the mvp. i have not examined the non-yanks on other division leaders/contenders. sounds as if there are several worthy candidates on the angels and others, too.

i was simply voicing my opinion that mauer would not be my choice unless the twins somehow get back into contention for a playoff spot next month.

and don't give me, "if he hadn't missed a month," junk. he did. too bad.

but nice job by all beating me down. there's still 40 games left. if mauer plays most of 'em and keeps his average as "historically" high as it is, he'll be tough to beat.

but there is a looong way to go to keep that average above .370.

 

Who would be your MVP, shockey?

 

I asked him that on the last page. Still waiting.

 

He's actually hitting .389 (75 games 332 plate appearances) when catching and .321 (20 games and 93 plate appearances) as a DH

 

Yeah, missing a month does a lot more to hurt Mauer's case than his 20 games at DH.

(Although I don't think it hurts it that much, when it's clear he's been the most dominant offensive player this year, and also on his way to another Gold Glove. That Gardner tagout in June is the play of the year, non-perfect game division.)