Mike Trout second to Clayton Kershaw in Sporting News Player of the Year Award

The fifth Sporting News award was released this morning and the results did not go in the Angels favor. Clayton Kershaw edged out Mike Trout for the player of the year. Kershaw received 76 votes while Trout received 73, and the voting was done by 244 MLB players. Yes, I am upset that Trout didn’t win the award, but am I really surprised? Not so much.

Kershaw had one of the best seasons by a pitcher in recent memory. His 1.77 ERA was the lowest since 2000, when Pedro Martinez posted a 1.74 ERA. He had the lowest ERA by a National League pitcher since former Dodger Sandy Koufax in 1966. He was worth one win above replacement than any other pitcher in baseball. His ERA was almost .40 lower than the next closest, Felix Hernandez at 2.14.

"“He led the league in Wins (21), Winning Percentage ( .875), strikeouts per nine (10.84), complete games (6), strikeout-to-walk ratio (7.71) and FIP (1.81).” – Jesse Spector of Sporting News"

There is no way that Kershaw didn’t deserve to win the award after the season he had. He will most likely end up winning the National League MVP and no one will have a problem with it because of how amazing he was.

If there is one thing to be down on about Kershaw was his playoff performance. He lost both games against the Cardinals in the NLDS and allowed 11 runs in 12 and two-thirds innings.

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Angels outfielder Mike Trout was second in the voting after a fabulous season. He hit .287/.377/.561 with a career-high 36 home runs and 111 runs driven in. The 111 RBI lead the American League. He led the majors in extra-base hits (84) and runs scored (115). He did amazing things in his age 22 season, one of them was becoming just the fifth player to hit at least 35 home runs and drive in at least 105 runs out of the second spot in the order. He also walked 83 times which was fourth in the AL, and his slugging was third best in the American League.

Trout will most likely be in the top two of the MVP voting again this year and I believe he finally has his time. He did enough this season and the voters can’t put the “The Angels didn’t win enough games” excuse on his this season. At the end of the day, Kershaw was the best player in all of baseball and Trout was a close second.

Next: Mike Trout, Erick Aybar elected to SN AL All-Star Team

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