Blue Jays’ Josh Donaldson named American League MVP

Bryce Harper has been named the National League Most Valuable Player in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Donaldson, aka “The Bringer of Rain”, received 23 first-place votes – 16 more than runner-up Angels outfielder Mike Trout.

Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper was a unanimous choice for the National League MVP Award. Donaldson also ranked second in slugging percentage, third in home runs (41) and fifth in hits (184).

He was the first player from a Washington franchise to win an MVP since the BBWAA awards began in 1931 – no one on the original or expansion Senators or Nats had done it. Harper was a unanimous victor in the NL over Paul Goldschmidt and Joey Votto, while Donaldson won over Mike Trout and Lorenzo Cain. He scored 122 runs, which led the majors. He’s only been in the league for four seasons, but Harper is already establishing himself in the pantheon of Expos/Nationals greats such as Gary Carter and Vladimir Guerrero – and, with this honor, even one-upping them.

The Blue Jays led the majors in myriad offensive categories including runs scored (891), home runs (232), doubles (308), total bases (2,518) and RBIs (852). In this clip, he tags up from third on a pop-up to the second baseman, and scores by flying past a presumably flabbergasted Yan Gomes and just barely getting his hand to the plate. Trout and Yogi Berra are the only AL position players to ever finish in the top two in MVP voting four consecutive seasons.

Harper finished with a. 649 slugging percentage and a. 460 on-base average.

Josh Donaldson was named the 2015 American League’s Most Valuable Player Thursday.

Considering Donaldson smashed his previous career-bests from power and run-production standpoints, it’s no wonder he was able to throttle to the head of the MVP pack in conjunction with the Blue Jays’ run up the standings.

Though the 2015 baseball season has been a roller-coaster for the Washington Nationals, on an individual level it is clear that he excelled. “As we said at this time a year ago, I thought that ‘Harp” was just scratching the surface of what he can be”.

The 23-year-old notched up the highest 42 home runs in this edition of NL.

Donaldson and the Blue Jays made it to the ALCS after their most successful season in over two decades, but fell to the eventual World Series Champion Kansas City Royals in six games. This was the first time the team with the best record in the NL didn’t have a player in the top ten since 2007, when Eric Byrnes finished 11th for the Diamondbacks, who tied for an NL-best 90 wins.