CP NewsAlert: Jays 3B Donaldson wins AL most valuable player award

The Nationals right fielder got all 30 votes he’s the seventh National League unanimous MVP and the youngest from either league to win the award since Cal Ripken in 1983.

Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt was second in NL voting and Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto was third.

“It’s very exciting for the fans, very exciting for everybody that plays”. The one downside is that despite a strong roster, the Nationals failed to make the postseason which led to the dismissal of manager Matt Williams. “The entire Lerner family extends congratulations to Bryce on his well-deserved Most Valuable Player award and his tremendous, record-setting season”, Nationals owner Theodore N. Lerner said in a statement. “It’s such a pleasure to watch him play and we look forward to his future outstanding contributions to the team”. He is the third-youngest player since 1900 to lead the majors in OBP and slugging, trailing only Ty Cobb (1909) and Stan Musial (1941), according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The outfielder hit. 330 with 42 home runs and 99 RBIs.

Harper turned 23 on October 16, after his Nationals had missed the postseason.

“I recognized that I was having a pretty good season at the moment… but I understood too that there was a lot of season left and my goals aren’t necessarily to win MVP’s but to help my team win”.

Harper became the first member of the Nationals/Montreal Expos franchise to win an MVP, and the first player from a team in Washington since Roger Peckinpaugh won the award for the American-League Washington Senators in 1925 under much different voting rules. Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout, who won the award last season, got the seven other first-place votes and finished second for the third time. Beyond him, I voted the next tier of Manny Machado and Lorenzo Cain third and fourth, followed them with the top three pitchers from my Cy Young ballot, and then Jason Kipnis, Adrian Beltre and Russell Martin.

“I remember the first time I heard it and it was kind of like, ‘OK these guys are starting to get pretty serious about what’s going on here, ‘” Donaldson said on a conference call.

In the end, the voters simply recognized the best hitter in the majors in 2015 as the league’s MVP. Donaldson went 8-for-13 (.615) with six runs, four doubles, a homer, nine RBIs, two walks and a sacrifice fly. Of his 41 home runs, 30 came in games that were either tied or had a one-run difference, and over 30% of his RBIs (38 of 123) broke up a tie game. Baseball-Reference.com had Trout at 9.4 wins and Donaldson at 8.8. For many A’s fans, his trade to the Blue Jays understandably remains a sore subject, considering he was still four years away from free agency at the time of the deal.

Donaldson ended the American League Championship Series for his Toronto Blue Jays by grounding out in Kansas City with the tying run at third in Game 6.

Slashing.368/.451/.750 with 39 home runs, he led the Major League Baseball in RBI with 116 in only 110 games. He’s now finished second three times and it’s no coincidence that the one year he won was the season the Angels made the playoffs.

Commissioner Rob Manfred said Thursday that it “absolutely clear” there will be changes. I’ll say this, though, his statistics were far more superior to the other two candidate’s.