Miggy has done it again! To no one’s surprise at all, Miguel Cabrera has been named the American League Most Valuable Player for the second year in a row. Cabrera received 23 of the 30 first place votes for the award.
The Detroit Tigers’ third baseman finished ahead of Mike Trout of the LA Angels and Chris Davis of the Orioles for the AL MVP Award. Trout led all of baseball with a 9.2 WAR and received 5 first place votes.
Although Cabrera did not manage to repeat as the Triple Crown winner this year, the Venezuelan right hander did lead all of baseball with a .348 batting average and a .442 on base percentage. Miggy also posted a .636 slugging percentage, an OPS of 1.078 and an OPS+ of 187. He knocked out 44 home runs and racked up 137 RBI’s. Not too bad for a player of 30 years old nursing various minor injuries in the latter part of the year.
Miguel Cabrera is the 8th Detroit Tiger to win the American League MVP Award. In 2011 the MVP was won by his team mate Justin Verlander and before that it was Willie Hernandez back in 1984.
Revived Pittsburg Pirate fans have something else to cheer about this year as well. Their center fielder, Andrew McCutchen, has won the National League Most Valuable Player Award for 2013. ‘Cutch’ won the award for being one of the finest, most well rounded players in all of baseball. He can hit, he can field and he can run the bases with the best of them.
For 2013, McCutchen hit .317/.404/.508! He slammed out 21 home runs, hit 38 doubles and 5 triples. Additionally, Andrew managed to steal 27 bases! He led all league qualifiers in percentage of extra bases taken, which means taking more than he should have gotten!
McCutchen also has one of the best gloves in baseball. He ranked 5th among NL center fielders in Total Zone Runs and 4th in Ultimate Zone Rating. Many a long ball hitter has been robbed of a hit by one of his spectacular catches.
The MVP Awards are voted on and presented by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. When McCutchen’s name was announced at the awards ceremony, he was heard to say, “If I could get up and dance right now I would, but I don’t have much room to do that. When I get off camera, I probably will.”