Home stretch now, folks.
These next three awards truly are the trifecta: best hitter, best pitcher, most valuable player. The honors don't get much better than that. As for this one, named after arguably one of the most outstanding hitters in franchise history, last year's winner was Mike Trout, with his historic season including a .326/.399/.564 slash and a 171 OPS+. Let's move on to this year!
A slump. That's what many people expect out of rookies that put up monster numbers. A sophomore slump, if you will. Many have been effected quite adversely by it; Joe Charboneau, Travis Lee, even Yoenis Cespedes this season. So many expected the same from this player, He refused to give it to them. Despite tailing off significantly in the season's final two weeks, this player completely stunned the crowds that almost hoped for a regression, just to justify their ignorant non-votes for his MVP candidacy. Is it any surprise who the winner is this season?
2013 VLADIMIR GUERRERO AWARD: MIKE TROUT (.323/.432/.557, 27 HR, 97 RBI, 109 R, 110 BB, 179 OPS+, 9.2 WAR)
Take THAT, sophomore slump. His batting average and slugging percentage each went down by a couple of smidges, but...wow. Dat OBP. A combination of increased plate discipline and an increase in being pitched around after Pujols' shutdown handed Trout the AL lead in walks, and he once again led the AL in runs scored. His home runs went down, his RBI went up (at which Scioscia rejoices and believes he was right) and he had a season that many would argue was better than his last. In terms of oWAR (offensive WAR), that would be completely correct; he improved from 8.8 to 10.1. Trout has made it quite clear that he's for real, and is absolutely the center of this team. The voting totals (italics denote an ineligible player that still received votes):
PLAYER | POSITION | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL |
Mike Trout | OF | 11 | - | - | 55 |
Howie Kendrick | 2B | - | 7 | 2 | 23 |
Mark Trumbo | 1B/DH | - | 2 | 4 | 10 |
J.B. Shuck | OF | - | 1 | 1 | 4 |
Chris Iannetta | C | - | 1 | - | 3 |
Erick Aybar | SS | - | - | 2 | 2 |
Albert Pujols | 1B/DH | - | - | 1 | 1 |
Kole Calhoun | OF | - | - | 1 | 1 |