The MLB season is nearing the halfway mark and we are projecting our yearly awards at this point in the campaign. There are lots of deserving players, but ultimately only one guy wins. From early season smashes to shut out performances, here are our mid-season National League awards picks for MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, and Manager of the Year.
MVP
Ronald Acuna Jr. – Atlanta Braves
This is going to be a fun race to watch as we enter the second half of the season, but Ronald Acuna Jr. is leading the way up to this point for the Braves. As of this writing, he leads the league in runs, stolen bases, and total bases. Acuna really is a 5-tool player, and it still shocks me to this day that the Braves won a World Series with this guy on the injured list.
Acuna and the Braves sit comfortably in first place in the NL East. He has a few names behind him in Freddie Freeman, his former teammate, and rookie phenom Corbin Carroll who is pushing the envelope for an MVP award in his first year in the league.
Cy Young
Zac Gallen – Arizona Diamondbacks
Gallen is my pick here and ESPN would back me up, giving him the highest Cy Young predictor score. As of this writing, he has pitched more innings than any other player in the league and has the best strikeout to walk ratio. Gallen has been excellent and the Dbacks have backed him up as he leads the NL in wins.
Gallen is going to be a part of a team that makes a playoff push, and he will have plenty of high-profile matchups against the Dodgers, Giants, and Padres down the stretch which will put the eyeballs on him.
Rookie of the Year
Corbin Carroll – Arizona Diamondbacks
Something extremely bad would have to happen for Carroll not to win this award. Vegas already has him as a -450 favorite. Carroll has given the Dbacks life for the first time in a few seasons. As of this writing, he leads the league in slugging, OPS, and OPS+. He is batting .298 with 16 home runs and 40 runs batted in.
This is pretty much a runaway up to this point and if Carroll were to not win the award just from his first half numbers alone, we might have to get a congressional hearing involved to investigate which voters were corrupt.
Manager of the Year
David Bell – Cincinnati Reds
Where did these guys come from? The Reds lead the NL Central at the moment as they have ripped off a double-digit winning streak. What they’re doing is impressive with the roster they have and it’s evident that the guys are playing well under David Bell’s leadership.
Torey Lovullo should and will get a whole lot of looks here if he can get the Dbacks to the postseason with a first place finish out West.