Kansas City Royals: Jorge Soler snubbed in AL MVP voting for 2019
By Travis Neely
After the season Jorge Soler had for the Kansas City Royals in 2019, why was he disrespected in the American League MVP voting?
On Thursday, the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) announced their 2019 American League MVP award. It wasn’t a surprise that the award went for the third time to Anaheim Angel Mike Trout. This is well-deserved, but Jorge Soler of the Kansas City Royals deserved more respect in the category.
Undoubtedly the megastar center fielder is fully deserving of the award once again based on his individual performance despite missing the last three weeks of the season. His numbers boasted 45 HRs (2nd AL), 104 RBI (9th AL), .291 BA (17th AL) on an Angels team that finished next to last in the American League West.
The award places him among the most elite to ever play the game who have three or more MVP seasons. Without a doubt Mike Trout will be giving a Hall of Fame speech in Cooperstown in the distant future. Deservedly he should, not only for his performance between the lines but also his actions off the field.
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After looking at how the BBWAA members voted, it’s hard to not look at how votes were distributed. Its worth comparing the others that received votes and try to understand why the members voted the way they did.
The final tally placed Houston Astros third baseman Alex Bregman and Oakland A’s Shortstop Marcus Semien behind Trout respectfully. The top three players were all from the AL West
- Bregman finished with 41 HRs (tied 3rd AL), 112 RBI (5th AL) and a .296 BA (13th AL).
- Semien posted 33 HRs (16th AL), 92 RBI (17th AL) and a .285 BA (21st AL).
What is amazing is looking at where other players finished to include Royals outfielder and designated hitter Jorge Soler.
Soler received exactly one “point”. The only reason he received that was because Anthony Fenech from the Detroit Free Press placed him tenth on his ballot. Without this tenth place vote, Soler’s name wouldn’t have even appeared anywhere in the MVP list. Period.
- Soler finished with 48 HRs (1st AL), 117 RBI (tied 2nd AL), and a .265 BA (42nd AL).
There is the argument that a player awards should be awarded to a player from a “playoff team” or a “winning team”. The Angels finished the season 72-90, so that argument doesn’t really hold true.
It’s also worth noting that the BBWAA also awarded the NL Cy Young to Jacob deGrom, who only had 11 wins. He garnered 29 of the 30 first place votes. So why would Soler only get one tenth place vote?
The argument for Soler is not that he should have placed in the top three for the AL MVP, rather he deserved to clearly be ahead of many of the others on the list that played in larger market areas. Soler put up some jaw dropping numbers that should have been noticed and recognized by more than just one writer.
Maybe these writers might have second thoughts on their votes if we all find out that the Astros cheated this year. We can then theoretically put him in sixth ahead of the four Astros that finished ahead of Soler.
Congrats Jorge Soler on an amazing season!