MLB First Half Awards
My Award picks for the first half of the 2023 MLB season
It’s the start of the second half of the 2023 season, which means the first half has ended, which means it’s time (or if I’m being honest, past time) to give out some super official first half awards.
National League Awards:
NL MVP: Ronald Acuna Jr.
Ronald Acuna Jr. returned from his ACL tear last season, but he got back to form in a big way this year and looks like his old self, if not better. Acuna was always seen as one of the best young players in baseball, and he’s still pretty young at 25 years old, but he’s no longer just seen as one of the best young players in baseball, he’s one of the best players overall, and the face of one of the best franchises in baseball in the Atlanta Braves.
This year at the break he already has accumulated the second-highest season WAR of his career, at 4.8 fWAR, a number that leads the NL by .6. He’s slashing .331/.408/.582, and his OPS (.990) and wRC+ (164) both lead the NL as well. Beyond that Acuna also is in the top 10 in NL home runs. He’s truly a complete hitter, but he’s also much more than that. Acuna leads the NL in steals with 41 through this point in the season, that sounds impressive but becomes even more so when you realize that Corbin Caroll in second place has 26. Defensively, Acuna isn’t the best, but he’s so good offensively it almost doesn't matter. One very impressive thing about his defense though is he’s tied for third in the NL in outfield assists.
Acuna’s season has been incredibly impressive so far and the battle for first half MVP isn’t really close.
The rest of the top five: Sean Murphy, Mookie Betts, Corbin Caroll, Freddie Freeman
NL Cy Young: Zac Gallen
This one was pretty hard because unlike the MVP race the Cy Young race is very close at the end of the second half. I did end up going with Zac Gallen, but it was a very hard decision and the race to the end of the season will be very interesting. When you look at his numbers through the half though, there’s a good case for him. Gallen leads NL pitchers in fWAR (3.7), is sixth in rWAR (2.7), is third in innings pitched (118.1), is sixth in ERA (3.04), is first in FIP (2.77), as well as WHIP (1.05), sixth in strikeouts (127), and is tied for fourth in quality starts (11). Gallen doesn't lead all categories, but he is well rounded and near the top in a lot of them.
The rest of the top five: Logan Webb, Marcus Stroman, Clayton Kershaw, Justin Steele
NL Rookie of the Year: Corbin Caroll
This one was extremely easy for me, Caroll hasn’t just been one of the best rookies in baseball he’s been one of the best players in baseball. I had Caroll as fourth in my MVP top five, and I could see arguments for him to be top three. He’s tied third in fWAR among all qualified national leaguers, he’s top 10 in wRC+, second in stolen bases, and has played some good defense in the outfield. Among rookies, his 3.8 fWAR is 1.7 points higher than second place Matt McLain’s 2.1 fWAR, his wRC+ is the highest amongst all qualified NL rookies, and as the first half ended he had the most home runs as well.
Caroll looks like he could be an amazing player for the Diamondbacks for a long time, and it’s his award to lose as the second half begins.
The rest of the top five: Matt McLain, Patrick Bailey, Kodai Senga, Elly De La Cruz
American League Awards:
AL MVP: Shohei Ohtani
It’s Shohei Ohtani, no one else comes close. Last year, It took one of the greatest, if not the greatest, offensive seasons since the steroid era to beat out Ohtani for MVP, and this year we don’t have a challenge like that. This year, at the break, Ohtani is having not only the best offensive season in the AL, but he’s pitching like an ace as well.
His offensive fWAR of 4.2 is already the highest in the AL, but then you add on his pitching WAR of 1.7 and get a combined 5.9 WAR at the All-Star Break! That’s insane, and it ends up being 2.1 wins above second place Wander Franco. He’s slashing .302/.387/.663, his OBP is third just behind Randy Arozarena’s .388, his SLG is first and his OPS is first too. His 32 home runs lead all of baseball as does his 181 wRC+. If that all isn’t enough he has 11 stolen bases too.
On the pitching side, he has a 3.32 ERA (11th), 4.01 FIP (17th), 1.10 WHIP (10th), 11.84 K/9 (2nd). He’s not the best pitcher, but he’s certainly up there, and the fact that he does this good while hitting that good is nothing short of mind-boggling. Someone perform a DNA test on this man, he’s either a robot or an alien.
Don’t let anyone tell you Ohtani is overrated, if anything he’s underrated and we don’t truly appreciate the insanity enough.
The rest of the top five: Luis Robert, Wander Franco, Jose Ramirez, Bo Bichette
AL Cy Young: Framber Valdez
Framber Valdez has been nothing short of amazing this year. Going into the break he was tied for 6th in innings pitched at 111, but it’s important to note that everyone ahead of him has one to two more starts than him. His ERA (2.51) leads the AL, his FIP (2.82) is second, and he’s ninth in WHIP (1.05) after a three-way tie for sixth. His fWAR and rWAR are both second to different pitchers. Like Gallen, he doesn’t lead a whole bunch of categories, but he places well consistently.
The rest of the top five: Kevin Gausman, Nathan Eovaldi, Gerrit Cole, Shane McClanahan
AL Rookie of the Year: Josh Jung
This was a sort of close race for me, but I have to give it to Josh Jung who has been really good on both offense and defense, and is a big part of the Rangers success this year.
Jung is slashing .280/.331/504 with a rookie leading 19 home runs, that’s good for a wRC+ of 130, which places him sixth amongst AL rookies. Sixth might not sound great, and might not sound like he’s deserving of being called the best rookie of the first half, but let me explain why he is. He’s just 2 points from being tied for fourth, and second place Masataka Yoshida is 9 points ahead of him. A decent amount, but Jung plays amazing defense, better than everyone ahead of him including leader Luke Raley. Jung’s defense is 92nd percentile in Outs Above Average (OAA), Yoshida and Raley are in the 11th and 74th respectively. Raley’s defense isn’t bad, and he does lead in wRC+ too, so he might be deserving of the recognition, but he’s also a 28-year-old who’s played in parts of two seasons already, and although he still has rookie eligibility, I don’t love giving it to a player that isn’t exactly a true rookie. If he had played in a few games the season prior that might change things, but that’s not the case here. Jung also is ahead of Raley in both variations of WAR, which makes me feel that Jung is the deserving winner of my prestigious, very real, award.
The rest of the top five: Luke Raley, Masataka Yoshida, Gunner Henderson, Hunter Brown
What picks do you agree or disagree with, and who would you have as your award winners?
