"Jacob deGrom" by slgckgc is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Welcome to the 2021 Jersey Column Midseason MLB Award Show. I am your host, Noah Poser, and I will be announcing who will bring home the prestigious “Halfway Awards.” The categories include but are not limited to AL and NL MVP, AL and NL Cy Young and AL and NL Rookie of the Year.
So, let’s not waste any time tonight folks. Let’s dive on in and present the first award.
The first Midseason MLB Award goes to Shohei Ohtani. There are plenty of people who will make it seem like the race between Ohtani and Guerrero closer than it really is. Let’s not overthink this. Yes, at this point in the season, Guerrero leads the American League in batting average and runs batted in. In fact, he leads all of MLB in those categories. He even ranks second in all of baseball in home runs with 28 at the break. However, the problem is who he trails in that category.
That happens to be Ohtani, who has 33 homers so far this season. This is in addition to his 70 RBI, good for third in the MLB and his OPS of 1.062, good for second (behind Guerrero). Ohtani also has 12 stolen bases for good measure. Oh, and did I forgot to mention he’s doing all this while making 13 starts in the Angels’ rotation. And at a high level too, holding opposing batters to a BA of .195 over 67 innings. What Ohtani is doing hasn’t been done since the great Babe Ruth back in 1919, and still Ohtani is on pace to shatter those numbers. So again, let’s not overthink this. Guerrero is great, and in any other year would easily be the MVP. Just not this year.
This may be a controversial pick given how the whole spider tack debacle has played out over the course of this season. In fact, I would have had a different answer to who should get this award just last week. But there’s simply no denying that the best pitcher in the American League resides in New York. Rodon has an argument no doubt for his career season up to this point, but just take a glance at some of these numbers.
Cole has pitched 114 innings, compared to Rodon’s 89.2, which matters. He has a WHIP of 0.93, slightly better than Rodon’s 0.96. Cole has collected 4.3 WAR this season as opposed to Rodon’s 3.3. He has 13 quality starts, where Rodon only has 8. He also has more strikeouts and has been much better at avoiding walks. Rodon does outpace him in ERA and K/9, but that isn’t quite enough to push him to the top. Advantage Cole.
This was another easy category to pick. García has been outstanding this season. The 28-year-old rookie has played so well in fact that he was named to the American League All-Star team. He’s been mashing this season. He has 22 home runs and 62 RBI, easily outpacing second place Ryan Mountcastle in both categories.
No other hitter is close to Garcia to challenge this pick, and the best pitcher, Luis Garcia isn’t quite to his level either. The All-Star gets the nod here.
Welcome back Alex Cora. What a difference a year makes. In his return as Red Sox manager, the Red Sox have gone from a cellar dweller last season to arguably the best team in the American League this season. The Red Sox are in the midst of a heated battle for both the No. 1 seed in the American League playoffs with the White Sox and Astros right now, but also for the AL East, as they lead the Rays by 1.5 games right now. A lot of the credit here belongs to Cora for turning the ship around in Boston.
Everybody knows deGrom has been easily the best pitcher in all of baseball this season (more on that later). However, it just so happens that he has also been the best player in the entire National League. This isn’t to discount the incredible season Tatis has had up to this point. I mean, he’s been outstanding, on pace for a historic season with 28 homers and 20 stolen bases already.
This is more a credit to the pure dominance of deGrom, who is reaching levels of dominance nobody thought possible in this day and age of baseball. I mean heck, you want to talk two-way talents in baseball, deGrom is batting .364 this season, albeit in a relatively small sample size. We’ll look at his pitching numbers in a just a moment, but what deGrom is doing this season on the mound is more impressive than what someone like Guerrero has done at the plate… it’s been that good.
Any other year, guys like Gausman and Zack Wheeler would be shoe-ins for this award, but again, what deGrom is doing right now is unbelievable. His ERA only just recently went over the 1.00 mark, sitting now at 1.08 and his WHIP is 0.54! His batting average allowed is .126 and he leads the National League in strikeouts despite pitching 27.2 innings less than Wheeler, who’s in second place. With the way he’s been pitching, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he ends the season with an ERA under 1.00, which is why he easily gets this award.
Speaking of shoe-ins, Rogers is the clear winner of the NL Midseason Rookie of the Year. He’s been excellent. How excellent you ask? He just happens to lead all rookies in the NL in ERA, WHIP, strikeouts, innings pitched, batting average allowed, and wins just for good measure. The batters in the NL have been decent for rookie standards, but not as good as Rogers has been on the mound. Anderson deserves some love for what he’s done for the Braves this season, but he hasn’t been quite on the level of Rogers.
The final MLB Midseason Award goes to Gabe Kapler. This should surprise nobody, as Kapler has led the Giants to the best record in baseball at the All-Star break. In just his second season at the helm, Kapler is looking to do something his predecessor Bruce Bochy could never do with the Giants, win the NL Manager of the Year award. Not much was expected out of the Giants coming into this season, as everybody expected the Dodgers and Padres to duke it out for the top spot in the NL West, but the Giants look to have serious staying power as we move into the second half of the season.
There you have it. These are the fine gentleman that have dominated the MLB season so far. It’s also a good bet to say that these same gentlemen will likely be able to keep it up in the second half, despite the ridiculous standards they’ve set for themselves thus far.
And with that, we conclude this year’s edition of The Jersey Column Midseason MLB Award Show. Until next time, this is your host, Noah Poser, signing off.
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