*Photo from CNN*
These two are at the top of the game this year. Los Angeles Angels pitcher/DH Shohei Ohtani and Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr were announced as the 2023 AL and NL MVP award winners on Thursday.
Both Ohtani and Acuna Jr won unanimously, marking the first time that both MVP winners have done so in unanimous fashion. They are the 12th and 13th unanimous winners of all time. With the seasons both players had, it was deserved.
Ohtani won his second MVP award and has done so unanimously both times. He's now the 16th multi time MVP winner in the AL and just the 29th in all of baseball. He becomes the 3rd pitcher to win multiple MVP awards.
Texas Rangers teammates Corey Seager and Marcus Semien were the other two finalists alongside Ohtani. Seager picked up 24 second place votes to come in second overall, while Semien got 5 second place votes and 8 for 3rd place.
Ohtani enjoyed another breathtaking season on the mound and at the plate. He had 44 home runs, a 1.066 OPS, and 95 RBI's, leading the AL in home runs, OPS, OPS+, on base percentage, and slugging percentage. On the mound, he held opposing hitters to a .184 average and ended the season with a 3.14 ERA and 1.06 WHIP in 23 starts.
The win by Ohtani marks the 7th MVP won by an Angels player. 5 of those have come in the last 10 years by two players, with Ohtani winning two and Mike Trout winning 3. Ohtani has to be a full time DH in 2024 after undergoing offseason surgery.
Acuna Jr had a spectacular season in his own right on the NL side. He became the first player to hit 40 home runs and steal 70 bases in one season in all of baseball, posting a .337/.416/.596 slash line with 106 RBI's and 149 runs scored. Acuna Jr led the league in runs, hits, OPS, on base percentage, and total bases.
In the voting, Acuna Jr beat out Los Angeles Dodgers teammates Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts. Betts received all 30 second place votes to be the top runner up to Acuna Jr, while Freeman, who played with Acuna Jr in Atlanta, received 17 votes for 3rd place.
Acuna Jr becomes the 8th Braves player to win an MVP, joining a club of Freeman, Chipper Jones, Hank Aaron, Dale Murphy, Terry Pendleton, John Evers, and Robert Elliott. 26 players received MVP votes in the NL, with Matt Olson and Corbin Carroll finishing in 4th and 5th place respectively.
Comments
Post a Comment