DFSR Midseason MLB Awards - MVP

Welcome to the Major League All-Star Break, where your only baseball fix over the next few days will be a rather meaningless exhibition game and a batting practice contest. So we thought we'd take the time to weigh in on our mid-season awards (both superlative and not so much).

Here we'll weigh in our contributors' picks for MVP with the understanding that for some it was their second choice. Such is the struggle when you respond to the email a little later than others.

And make sure to keep check out our Cy Young picks plus later in the week Biggest Surprise and Biggest Bust of the first half.

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James Davis - DFSR CoFounder and CEO, drops knowledge on the DFSR MLB Podcast

Mookie Betts - BOS
.359 / .448 / .691 -  6.3 WAR
23 HR / 51 RBI / 18 SB
Is it a cop-out to just pick by far the best player on by far the best team? It can be. But in the case of Betts, he is a lot of the reason that the Red Sox have been so incredible this season. If the season ended today, his .465 wOBA would be the highest in the majors since Barry Bonds' 2004 season. Yes, you'd have to go back 14 years (and many "supplements") to get an offensive season as consistently dominant as what Betts has put together so far. He's walked more than he's struck out this season, his 23 homers through 75 games are just 1 below the 24 he hit through all 153 games last season, and his .331 ISO trails only Jesus Aguilar. Really the only knock against him is his fielding, which is basically league average. But who cares about fielding? We're a DFS site, baby. And that's why the DFSR MVP has to be Mookie Betts.

Doug Norrie - DFSR CoFounder, Editor-in-Chief, and Statistical Director

Francisco Lindor - CLE
.291 / .367 / .562 -  5.3 WAR
25 HR / 62 RBI / 13 SB

In 2017, Lindor set a career power mark with 33 home runs along with a .842 OPS in a breakout season for the 24-year-old Indian shortstop. This year, he’s on pace for that to look like just the tip of the iceberg. He’s on a 40+ home run pace, playing in all but one of the Indians’ games this season. He’s an ironman who also happens to play the most important defensive position while also crushing with the bat. For DFS purposes we only care about the bat of course, but he’s also set to shatter his previous best in WAR (5.9) thanks to another season of stellar defense. Lindor is the full fantasy package, hitting leadoff in a great offense leading to massive plate appearance expectation. He draws walks in 10% of his plate appearances and already has 12 stolen bases (also on pace to best his previous high of 19). And the best might still be to come considering his age and how he’s improved every single season since hitting the majors.

Chris Durell - DFSR MLB Content Manager and Lead Contributor
Mike Trout - LAA
.310 / .454 / .606 -  6.6 WAR
25 HR / 50 RBI / 15 SB
Editor's Note: In the original content proposal we had called this "MVP - Non-Mike Trout Division". And then Chris went ahead and chose Trout to write about anyway. I admire the gumption and it's why he's our #1 guy.

Ya, Doug wanted to go a "Non-Mike Trout" route with the MVP write up but I went against the bosses wishes and took Trout anyway. To be fair, it is a lot closer than you would think as three players, including Trout, sit with a 6+ WAR and are separated but just .2 points. To show just how incredible that really is, there was only one player (Aaron Judge 5.6) with a 5+ WAR going into the All-Star break last year mind you there have been about 12 more games played pre-All Star this season.

Ok, back to Trout. He leads the league with a ridiculous .454 on-base percentage, sits third in home runs with 25, second to only Betts with a 1.060 OPS, and despite the lack of talent around him sits sixth in runs scored with 71. For fantasy, he has elite numbers but the MVP race is much closer as he ranks 5th on FanDuel with 14.4 points per game and 4th on DraftKings with 10.9 points per game. Either way, if I was starting a team today and had the first pick overall, it is still Mike Trout for me(Don't @ me!) except I would try and do a little better than the Angels GM in giving him some talent around him.

Jerry Vanderwoude - DFSR MLB Writer
Freddie Freeman - ATL
.363 / .404 / .532 -  3.6 WAR
16 HR / 60 RBI / 58 Runs
MVP. Most. Valuable. Player. While this title is intended to go to the player who most helped his team overcome the odds and achieve great heights, I feel it also should reflect on a player's individual growth as well. As we sit here at the mid-point of the 2018 campaign, one name stands out when I think about these criteria; Atlanta Braves first baseman, Freddie Freeman.

Most people expected the Nationals to take early control of the NL East once again and put a stranglehold over the top spot in the division, but the struggle of Bryce Harper and the Washington offense as a whole have led to the Nationals treading water with the Braves involved in a dogfight with Philadelphia for control of the division.

The rise from the ashes for the Braves who have spent most of the last decade mired in mediocrity is shining a larger spotlight on Freeman, who since his call-up in 2010 has proven to be one of the best at his position year in and year out. Freeman is shining bright, leading the Braves offense. With his wOBA just .010 points shy of his 2017 career-best mark, he's second-best at the position edging out names like Goldschmidt and Votto, with career-bests in average (.315) and OBP (.405). He's gone for extra bases on 43 of his 112 base hits this season, including 16 home runs and 24 doubles, another number well on pace for a career-high mark. As Freddie Freeman continues through the 2018 campaign, I look forward to seeing him push forward on the path he is on and maybe earning his first, long overdue, MVP award.

Ryan Sheppard - DFSR MLB Contributor
Jose Ramirez - CLE
.302 / .401 / .628 -  6.5 WAR
29 HR / 70 RBI / 20 SB
Everybody talks about how great Francisco Lindor is, and don’t get me wrong, he’s fantastic. However, Jose Ramirez bests him in just about every offensive category. Lindor definitely gets the edge defensively, but in 2018 Ramirez has been an absolute stud. He’s sporting a 6.1 WAR, second-best in the Majors to only Mike Trout. Additionally, he has smashed 28 home runs which is tied with J.D. Martinez at the top in all of baseball. He is a great mix of power and speed as with 19 stolen bases which not only puts him eighth but gives him, easily, the best HR+SB combo at 47. Trout comes in a distant second with 40. Ramirez also shows a ton of patience at the plate with not only an excellent 13.5 percent walk-rate but an elite 11.1 strikeout rate.

Ramirez plays in an extremely potent offense with guys like Lindor, Encarnacion, and Brantley surrounding him which has allowed him to knock in 67 runs which is another top-five mark. He enters the All-Star break with a .422 wOBA, 618 SLG and 170 wRC+, all of which he sits among the top five as well. While there is a lot of baseball left, and Mike Trout has the AL MVP wrapped up at this point, Ramirez has proven himself to be one of the best hitters in baseball while still producing solid defensive numbers which makes him a fantastic all-around asset.

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