With baseball at the All-Star break, we assembled the staff here at LBS to select our mid-season baseball awards. Yesterday, we posted the AL awards. Today, it’s the NL awards.
Steve DelVecchio says Joey Votto, 1B, Reds: The Reds, yes the Reds, are in first place and much of it is because of the bat and glove of Votto. He’s hitting .314 with 22 HR and 60 RBI and has made only two errors, yet somehow it took the fans voting him in on the final vote to earn a spot on the NL All-Star team. I’m giving it to him for now because he has the Reds in first, but I’m sure he’ll come back to earth at some point. My honorable mentions are Albert Pujols and David Wright. Isn’t it just a tradition to give it to Pujols? He’s got the stats for it at .307 with 21 HR and 64 RBI. As for Wright, he’s been raking even though the Mets could be the streakiest team in the history of baseball. He has a .314 average with 14 HR and 65 RBI. To top that off, he’s mixed in 15 steals which is just outside the top 10 in the NL.
Alan Hull says Joey Votto: The batting average, home runs and RBI are impressive and he plays on a winning team. Pujols or David Wright are keeping pace and can’t be counted out in the second half.
Jake Walker says Joey Votto: Never has a snub for the All-Star Game proven to be more powerful. When he got left off the roster and relegated to the fan vote, it made everyone wake up to realize how much he was dominating the NL this year.
Larry Brown says Joey Votto: Much like Miguel Cabrera in the AL, Votto has some of the best numbers in the NL across the board. He finished the first half strong by homering in seven of his team’s last 15 games to give him 22 on the year. I’m guessing Albert Pujols catches him and wins it, but Votto’s putting up one heck of a fight.
Alan Hull says Roy Halladay: I picked Doc at the beginning of the season and don’t see a big reason to change my vote. He has 20+ more innings than Ubaldo Jimenez and Josh Johnson with a comparable ERA. He also has seven complete games and three shutouts (one of which was a perfect game). The only edge Ubaldo has is win-loss record, but I like Doc’s innings and K:BB ratio (6.74) better.
Steve DelVecchio says Ubaldo Jimenez: I don’t even think I have to explain myself here. His ERA is a minuscule 2.20, he’s thrown a no-hitter and three complete games, and no one has figured him out yet. Like I said, wins don’t usually tell much about a pitcher, but when you have 15 of them to go along with a single loss before the All-Star break, they certainly mean something. My honorable mention is Adam Wainwright (13-5, 2.11) who has a ridiculous 2.11 ERA, and he’s done it throwing 136.1 innings which is second to Roy Halladay’s 148 (who also should get some votes for the mere fact that he’s thrown seven complete games and that’s unheard of in this era). Any other year, Wainwright is the best in the NL. Jimenez just happens to be a freak of nature who’s stealing the show in 2010.
Larry Brown says Josh Johnson: Ubaldo’s 15-1 start and no-hitter made it hard for most people to realize that the best pitcher in baseball until the All-Star break has been Josh Johnson. While Jimenez struggled in a three start stretch the past few weeks, Johnson continued to cruise. To find the last time Johnson gave up more than two runs in a start, you’d have to go back to May 8th. The only time he gave up more than that was on Opening Day against the Mets. Since then, he’s been un-hittable, posting an MLB-best 1.70 ERA.
Jake Walker says Ubaldo Jimenez: I don’t see how it can be anyone other than Ubaldo Jimenez at this point. The dude has a 15-1 record and had one of the best starts to a season I’ve ever seen. He was 10-1 with a 0.78 ERA after the first two months of the year. That was historically good. Add in the no-hitter and you have to wonder how he wouldn’t be the Cy at this point.
