Announced on Thursday, he received the first place votes from all 30 members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
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Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels, who won the award a year ago, was the runner-up to Donaldson, as he was to Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera in 2012 and 2013.
Donaldson collected 23 first-place votes. Harper is also first player in Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals franchise history to win the NL MVP. Angels outfielder Mike Trout, whowon the award last season, got the seven other first-place votes and finished second for the third time.
Donaldson struggled to climb the totem pole at catcher, so he went to the Dominican Republic and played winter ball after the 2011 season with the intent of learning third base.
The outfielder led the majors in slugging percentage and on-base average.
Donaldson was quietly one of the better players in the American League from 2013-2014, which is why many were caught off guard when the Athletics traded him to the Blue Jays last winter.
Harper put together one of the best offensive seasons in baseball history, and Donaldson was the offensive and defensive rock of a Toronto team that came a couple of wins short of the World Series. He went into the final day of the regular season with a chance to win the NL batting title – Miami’s Dee Gordon edged him – and scored a league-leading 118 runs. He hit 41 home runs (third in the AL) and had a. 939 OPS (third in the AL). “We knew it was going to be a better situation for my career and we truly believed I was going to be able to perform at a higher level”.
Harper captured the prize for the National League unanimously, garnering all 30 first-place votes and a ideal 420 points from a media panel, while Donaldson took the honor in the American League with 23 first-place ballots and 385 total points.
As this lost season drags on, and even the ice grows exhausted of the Edmonton Oilers skating on it, I’m noticing more goals against where the entire Oilers team just doesn’t look sharp. In a season that included a three-homer game (May 6 vs. MIA), two four-walk, four-run games (Aug. 18 at COL & September 3 vs. ATL), and the 500 hit of his career (HR, September 5 vs ATL), Harper solidified his place among the game’s elite players. He slugged.337. The lowest slugging percentage Donaldson had in any month was.398, in June.
AL MVP award aside, the results this year were nearly entirely good – and certainly all of them were defensible – and they say good things about the process in the future. 284 with two home runs and 11 RBIs.
The first Argo to rush for more than 1,000 yards was the CFL’s most outstanding player (as they call it) in his second year with the club.
This caps an award-filled season for Harper, who joins Hall of Famer Walter Johnson (1913 & 1924) and Roger Peckinpaugh (1925) of the Washington Senators as D.C. MVP honorees.
What happened here? Was it because Josh Donaldson had more RBIs, an antiquated and useless traditionalist counting stat that should be stricken from the box score?
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Donaldson led the AL with 123 RBI and topped the majors by scoring 122 runs.
