Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt finished second and Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto finished third.
Advertisement
The Baseball Writers’ Association of America announced the award winners, with Harper taking all of the first place votes in the National League. He received 23 first place votes and seven second place votes, picking up 385 points.
Donaldson hit. 297 with a league-best 123 runs batted in to help the Blue Jays to their first AL East title – and first playoff appearance – since 1993.
Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper was a unanimous choice for the National League MVP Award.
Harper is the third youngest player to be named NL MVP, behind only Johnny Bench and Stan Musial. The 22-year-old lefty was third in the National League with a. 330 batting average and led the majors with a. 649 slugging percentage, .460 on-base percentage, 1.109 OPS, and 9.9 bWAR and 9.5 fWAR.
I would be very, very shocked if Harper doesn’t win at least one more MVP.
The 2015 season is one that most Nats fans wish they could forget. In his first full season playing right field he was a Gold Glove finalist. “As we said at this time past year, I thought that Harp was just scratching the surface of what he can be”. His 97 out-of-zone plays – which are categorized as plays made where players of that position make the catch less than 50 percent of the time – were second-most in the NL. The outfielder played in 153 games in 2015, which is the most games he’s played in a season in his four-year career.
“Honestly, our team was on a roll, so I was able to deflect from myself and think I was just going out there trying to help my team win”, Donaldson said. The Royals’ Lorenzo Cain finished third in the balloting.
“You could see throughout the season what this guy meant to this ballclub”.
Donaldson also launched 41 homers while batting. The runner-up three times in the last four years, Trout was comparable in almost every category outside RBIs (90) … but for a team that fell short of the playoffs. He scored 122 runs, which led the majors.
“The best player in the game doesn”t always have the best numbers,” Toronto pitcher David Price said when the Blue Jays played Trout and the Angels in Anaheim in August.
Advertisement
Harper also becomes the first player in Expos/Nationals history to be named MVP. His numbers were especially impressive with runners in scoring position: he hit.353/.440/.618 with 7 home runs and 79 RBI.
