MLB First-Half Awards: The News' picks at the All-Star break – NY Daily News – New York Daily News
MARK LYONS/EPAMike Trout poses with the MVP trophy at the end of the All-Star Game.
Yes, the job’s only half-done. But we’d like to recognize a half-done job done well. Or something.
That’s why we’ve come up with the Daily News’ MLB First-Half Awards, where we highlight the best of this season, pre-All-Star break. It’s part reward for superlative early play and part kickoff for a fun stretch run.
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Is this the year we see the Mike Trout-Bryce Harper MVP double? (Hint: Yes, at least in our first-half awards). Who wins the AL Cy Young Award out of all those nifty arms?
There’s a lot to talk about. Some of it may even be relevant when the full-season awards are voted on. Read on and see if you agree with our picks.
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MVP
American League: He already was the MVP of the All-Star game (for the second year in a row), deserves our half-season hardware and probably will nail down his second AL MVP at the end of the year. Ladies and gentlemen, the incomparable Mike Trout. He’s one of four players with a slugging percentage over .600 (actually .614, second in the majors) and one of four players with an OPS over 1.000 (actually 1.019, fourth). He leads baseball in runs scored (68), is fifth in on-base (.405) and has 26 homers. He’s even striking out less than last year, the one bugaboo in his first MVP campaign. Oh, to be young and be Mike Trout.
National League: This one’s too easy – Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals. He leads the world in slugging (.704), on-base percentage (.464) and Wins Above Replacement (6.2 on baseball-reference.com). He’s also tied for second in homers (26) and tied for fifth in RBI (61). He’s entertaining and full of swagger, the best and most interesting player in the game right now.
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CY YOUNG
American League: There are a host of wonderful candidates here, including Dallas Keuchel, Chris Archer, David Price, Sonny Gray and Felix Hernandez. But we’re going with Chris Sale of the White Sox, who leads the American League with 157 strikeouts and averages 11.8 per nine innings, tops in the game. Cue the Randy Johnson comparisons. Sale, the South Side southpaw, is the most purely dominating pitcher of the bunch and we thrilled in watching him tie Pedro Martinez’s record of eight straight games with 10 or more strikeouts. Sale, who is 8-4, has a 1.76 ERA over his last 12 starts, 2.72 overall.
Mark J. Terrill/APDodgers starter Zack Greinke.
National League: If you recall our Way Too Early Awards, we pegged Zack Greinke of the Dodgers here. Well, he’s been awesome since – we are not saying there’s a correlation, but, hmmm – and started the All-Star Game. Why pick someone else now, even as compelling as Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer and Gerrit Cole are? Greinke has a microscopic ERA (1.39), nearly a run better than those other three contenders, and is 8-2. He leads all pitchers in bWAR, too, at 5.5. Scherzer is tops in WHIP (0.78), but Greinke is second at 0.84. In 14 of his 18 starts, he’s given up one or no runs. It’s been a remarkable season so far.
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ROOKIE
American League: Carlos Correa won’t be 21 until September, but he’s playing way above his years already, even though he’s only been in the majors for five weeks or so. In 32 games, Correa has seven homers and 19 RBI. He’s batting .276 and has an .820 OPS and all that might get even better since he’s a darling of the exit-velocity set that measures the speed of the ball off the bat. Correa is one of baseball’s hardest-hitters.
National League: Here’s another Dodger we’re not switching on – Joc Pederson. He took our Way Too Early rookie award and he’s getting this one, too, no matter what Kris Bryant of the Cubs is doing. Pederson’s average is only .230, but his disciplined approach is still there – witness the .364 on-base percentage. Oh, and he has 20 home runs and an .851 OPS and was the first rookie position player in Dodger history – that’s some history – to start the All-Star Game. He’s also a valuable center fielder.
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Scott Halleran/Getty ImagesAstros manager A.J. Hinch.
MANAGER
American League: A.J. Hinch, Houston Astros. Yes, they’ve relinquished first place to the Angels. Yes, they strike out a lot. But these Astros are finally relevant again after years of disaster and stockpiling prospects. They have 49 wins already, just 21 shy of their total last year. Heck, two years ago they only won 51. There’s been a talent change in Houston, for sure, but credit Hinch for helping the culture change, too. He can earn the full-year award if he can get them back into first place. If he doesn’t he could lose the award to Minnesota’s Paul Molitor.
National League: Clint Hurdle’s Pirates are in second-place in the National League Central to those always-good Cardinals, but they have the second-most wins in baseball at 53-35. They just might be ready to topple St. Louis, too, especially after ending the first-half with two thrilling walk-off wins against their division rivals. Hurdle has ushered in an attitude change in Pittsburgh, getting to the post-season each of the last two years to end a playoff drought that stretched back to 1992.
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