In what probably shouldn’t be a surprise, Joey Votto is the (near-unanimous) National League MVP. What’s a little surprising is the fact that two Brewers managed to grab votes in the balloting.
Ryan Braun finished 15th in the race with 19 points, collecting a 6th place vote, two 7ths, and an 8th, 9th, and 10th. Corey Hart finished 25th in the voting, collecting a lone 9th place vote. I’m actually surprised Team MVP and Super Clutch-y RBI Man Casey McGehee didn’t slip in there with a 10th place vote.
For the most part, it looks like the BBWAA got it right. I don’t have too much of a problem with a Top 5 of Votto-Pujols-Carlos Gonzalez-Adrian Gonzalez-Tulowitzki. As long as Votto won it, I probably wasn’t going to complain.
Was Braun actually the 15th-most valuable player in the NL in 2010, though?
If you go by fWAR, no — Braun was 25th. Compare that to Rickie Weeks, who had the 6th highest fWAR in the NL and highest among NL 2B and go zero votes. But he was 11th in wOBA, 11th in wRC+, and 13th in WPA. Obviously if you only look at his bat — and it looks like those who voted him highly did just that — it’s not crazy to think he was in the top 15 in 2010. Factor in the glove like WAR does, though, and he probably shouldn’t have made the list.
As for Corey Hart, well, I’m not even going to waste my time. I can defend giving Braun votes inside the Top 10 based on his bat alone, but I can’t do the same for Hart. I don’t mean to take anything away from his season, but there are at least three other Brewers I’d give a vote to before I’d give one to Hart.
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