LA Angels Season MVP’s From 2010-2019

The LA Angels have had many great season performances in the past decade.  We are going to recap the best performances of each season based not only on the stats, but a player going above & beyond their norm.

Since 2012 the LA Angels have had one player, Mike Trout, who has stood out each and every year he has played.  I could have taken the easy route and anointed Trout as the best Angel player each of the past eight seasons. Don’t get me wrong he has been amazing, however in some of these years there were players who really stepped it up as well.

You might not remember some of these stand out season performances by players not named Trout, but they did happen.  Despite our lack of pitching in recent years there were a few different pitchers who made our list.  Feel free to disagree with me on any or all the season MVP choices. So without any further adieu away we go with 2010.

2011 – Jered Weaver – 18-8, 2.41 ERA 1.015 WHIP 198 K’s AL All-Star & Runner-Up for Cy Young Award.

The Angels have not had too many pitchers that were more fiercely competitive that Long Beach State alum Jered Weaver.  For a six-year period from 2009-2014 Weaver was one of the best pitchers in the American League making the AL All-Star team three times from 2010-2012.

In 2011 Weaver won 18 games which was the second-best total in his career.  He also recorded his lowest ERA and WHIP of his career with the .241 ERA and 1.015 WHIP.  Weaver was recognized as one of the best pitchers in MLB by finishing second in the CY Young Award race. If he had gotten a little more run support and some help from the Angels bullpen Weaver would have been a 20-game winner.

In 2012 Weaver would reach 20 wins and also throw a No-Hitter, but  2011 was his most dominant season of his career.

2012 – Albert Pujols .285 30 HR 105 RBI & 8 SB

The 2012 season had a lot of standout performances for the Angels. It was the debut of Mike Trout who ended up winning the Rookie of the Year Award. Jered Weaver became only the seventh Angel pitcher to win 20 games in a season.  These performances were noteworthy for sure, but there was one performance that trumped them all in my opinion and that was by Albert Pujols.

Albert Pujols was the biggest free-agent signing in Angels history other than Vladimir Guerrero.  When he signed there were some great expectations put on him.  In 2012 he met those expectations, but this was probably the only year of his 10-year deal thus far that he came close to meeting expectations.

Pujols hit .285 with 30 homers and 105 RBIs.and he also stole eight bases only being caught one time.  Albert had a solid batting average (best he’s had as an Angel).  Unfortunately since then it has been tough sledding ever for Pujols.

2013 – C.J. Wilson – 17-7, 3.39 ERA, 188 K 

Many people thought that when the Angels signed C.J. Wilson and Albert Pujols in a six-hour period in the Winter of 2011 that it would assure a World Series trip. Unfortunately many other things went wrong that made this not come to fruition.  Wilson for his part had three pretty good seasons and one excellent season which was in 2013.

Wilson along with Jered Weaver anchored the Angels staff in 2013 and provided the Angels with a strong one-two punch.  Unfortunately an injury to Albert Pujols and just terrible pitching by the bottom half of the Angels rotation (Joe Blanton 2-14 6.04 ERA and Jerome Williams 9-10 4.57 ERA) derailed any chance the Angels had at making the postseason.  But Wilson’s 17-7 record and 3.39 ERA was definitely a bright spot on the pitching staff.

2014 – Matt Shoemaker 16-4, 3.04 ERA 1.08 WHIP 124 K’s and Mike Trout .287 36 HR 111 RBIs.  (AL MVP)

The 2014 season had the feel of 2002 and 2009 as we went through it, but it ended very disappointingly with a 3-game first round sweep to the Royals in the ALDS.  For their part though Matt Shoemaker and Mike Trout both had amazing seasons that helped propel the Angels into the post-season.

Shoemaker came out of nowhere and pitched brilliantly in his rookie season finishing 2nd in the Rookie of the Year voting by going 16-4 with a 1.08 WHIP and a 3.04 ERA.  This helped soften the blow when Garrett Richards blew out his ACL in Boston while covering 1st base.  Shoemaker and Weaver both pitched great in the playoffs, but lack of run support doomed the Angels in the postseason.

Mike Trout, on the other hand, had his best regular-season numbers of his career at that point as he smashed 36 homers and drove in 111 runs while batting .287.  He solidified the offense and made up for a poor season by Josh Hamilton.  It was impossible to choose which player was more important to the 2014 team.  So I chose both.

2015 – Garrett Richards comes back strong from injury to have a good season. 15-12, 3.65 ERA 176 K’s.

Garrett Richards had a breakout season in 2014 until a freak knee injury ended his year prematurely.  In 2015 Richards came back nicely and anchored a staff that was patchwork at best due to numerous injuries with no one else recording more than eight victories.

Richards went 15-12 with a 3.65 ERA while holding hitters to a .236 opponents’ batting average in 32 starts.  Richards started slowly, but then picked it up recorded his career-high total in victories with 15.  It also marked the only season in his career thus far that he started and finished the season healthy.  In 2016 Richards would suffer a UCL injury and make only six starts.  The followong the same scenario in 2017 making only six starts in an injury-plagued season.

Mike Trout and Albert Pujols both had productive years at the plate with 41 and 40 home runs respectively, but Richards was the one true rock on the mound.

2016 – Mike Trout & Albert Pujols give Angels a strong 1-2 punch.  Mike Trout .315, 29 HR 100 RBIs & 30 SB (AL MVP and All-Star). Albert Pujols .268, 31 HR 119 RBIs 

The Mike Trout and Albert Pujols dynamic duo was in full affect in 2016 with both players driving in 100 runs and the duo combined for 60 home runs (Trout 29 and Pujols 31).  Mike Trout finished with a .315 batting average and Pujols had a respectable .268 batting average.

Trout’s numbers also included a .991 OPS with 30 steals, 123 runs scored, and 116 walks.  While Pujols didn’t come close to Trout in these three categories he was still a force to be reckoned with and gave Trout some much-needed protection in the line-up as only Kole Calhoun hit more than 15 homers and drove in more 70 runs in the 2016 season.

On the pitching side the team was decimated by injuries to Andrew Heaney, Garrett Richards, and Nick Tropeano all who suffered UCL injuries and Tyler Skaggs who pitched in only 10 games after coming back from Tommy John surgery.  Unfortunately Trout and Pujols could not carry the team.

2017 – Andrelton Simmons .278, 14 HR 69 RBI 19 SB (Gold Glove) 

Andrelton Simmons was acquired in 2016 to be a solid defensive shortstop who contribute some on offense, but would be a Gold Glove that would anchor the infield. In 2017 Simmons was both as not only did he win his third Gold Glove Award, but he also had a solid year at the plate.

Simmons had his second-highest home run and RBI total in his career in 2017 smacking 14 balls over the wall and driving in 69 runs.  Simmons also stole 19 bases and hit .278 which were also career-highs at the time.  He gave the Angels another strong bat that they could use in multiple spots in the line-up and Simmons helped provide for some missing pop in the line-up when Mike Trout missed close to two months in the middle of the season.

Simmons followed this outstanding season up with another stellar campaign in 2018 despite missing close to 3 weeks with an injury.  Simmons’ production was an added bonus to his stellar glove work.

2018 – Shohei Ohtani .285 22 HR 61 RBI 10 SB. 4-2 3.31 ERA 60 Ks

Shohei Ohtani was just what the doctor ordered for the Angels and their fans in 2018. Sho-Time was in full effect from the opening week of the season.  When Ohtani hit his first home run to the first time he stepped on the mound he was electric and it created a buzz that had not been heard in Anaheim in years.

The first week Ohtani played he hit three homers in three consecutive games that he played and his first two starts he pitched six and seven innings recording 18 strikeouts and allowing only three runs in collecting two victories.  Not bad for a 23-year old prodigy at the time.

Even though Ohtani’s season on the mound was cut short in mid-June when he was diagnosed with a torn UCL he kept DH-ing smacking 22 homers and driving in 61 runs.  For his efforts Ohtani was awarded the AL Rookie of the Year Award which had only been won by two other Angels, Tim Salmon and Mike Trout.  It is definitely a season Angel fans will not soon forget.  Hopefully we will get to see it again this year, but for a full season this time.

2019 – Mike Trout – .291, 45 HR 104 RBI 11 SB 110 Runs (AL MVP)

Like I said at the beginning of this post Mike Trout could be the best player pretty much every season he has played, but the 2019 season was very special.  If not for Trout getting hurt in early September which kept him out of the final 25 games of the season Trout would have likely broken the Angels single-season home run record of 47 set by Troy Glaus in 2000.  He would have also set a career-high in RBIs, walks, and runs scored.

Trout had a spectacular season as it was and was one of the lone bright spots in an otherwise abysmal season for the Halos who lost 90 games for the first time this century.  Pujols, Justin Upton, and Shohei Ohtani all had less than stellar seasons and also missed time due to injuries as did Andrelton Simmons.

With the addition of Anthony Rendon for the 2020 season all of the line-up will hopefully be bolstered and Trout could have another MVP season.

Overall the 2010’s decade was dominated by strong hitting performances but there were a couple of strong pitchers who helped balance things out in a few seasons. Hopefully the Angels will find that right balance as they start the 2020’s.

Happy New Year’s everyone may you have a healthy and prosperous 2020 and we here at Halo Hangout thank you for a record 2019 year.  We hope to continue this in 2020 and that the Angels will make it back to the promiseland.