American League MVP:Â Gary Sanchez, catcher, New York Yankees
It’s always tempting and logical to go with Mike Trout here. The problem is that voters are traditionally biased against players on bad teams. They overcame that bias in 2016, but will they do it two years in a row? We’re not expecting much from the Los Angeles Angels in 2017, either. So for Trout to win the MVP, they’ll have to. It may not be fair, but it’s hard to imagine.
That opens up the field quite a bit, which is where Sanchez comes in.
When Sanchez came up at the end of 2016, it was hard to do anything but fall in love with his power. He hit 20 home runs in only 201 at-bats, or a home run in every 10.05 at-bats.
Consider the following.
Buster Posey led all backstops with 539 at-bats in 2016. If he had homered at Sanchez’s pace, he would have hit either 53 or 54 home runs, depending on which way we choose to round. Either number would have blown away single season records for home runs by a catcher (42). Even if we focus only on the at-bats that Posey logged as a catcher (473), he would have hit 47 home runs.
So, the power that Sanchez showed in 2016 was prolific for any position. For a catcher, that kind of pop is literally unheard of.
The Yankees aren’t committing to the older players anymore. In fact, most of them are off of the roster. So, as long as Sanchez is healthy, he’ll be in the lineup. How good can he be? It’s scary to think about.
Remember, Sanchez wasn’t just a long ball or bust kind of guy in 2016, either. In addition to those 20 home runs, Sanchez also slashed at .299/.376/.657. On the negative side, he struck out 57 times in those 201 at-bats. Over 500 at-bats, that works out to about 142 strike outs. But while that’s a high total, it’s not alarmingly so for this era, especially for a guy with Sanchez’s pop.
The other element that works in Sanchez’s favor is that he’s a catcher. Even if his numbers dip, voters usually have a soft spot in their hearts for guys who put on the tools of ignorance every day and put their bodies though that. Even if we’re not talking about 50 home runs, it will be hard to ignore big offensive numbers from a guy at that position.