MLB Network recently polled the league, asking which position player is having the best 2012 season. The top two vote-getters:
Josh Hamilton: 17%
Joey Votto: 15%
There's no debating that Josh Hamilton is having a great season. But you really can't make the argument that he's having the best 2012 season, especially not compared to Votto:
Hamilton: .319/.385/.652, 3.7 WAR
Votto: .350/.471/.632, 4.8 WAR
Hamilton does have a slight edge in slugging percentage. But heck, Votto hits twice as many doubles, and walks twice as much as Hamilton, all while striking out less. So why does Hamilton get more respect among the players?
Hamilton: 25 HRs, 73 RBIs
Votto: 14 HRs, 47 RBIs
Votto still manages to be a more valuable offensive player than Hamilton despite a big deficit in the home run category. Meanwhile, Hamilton's gaudy RBI total is probably the only reason he was voted higher than Votto. In reality, that means absolutely nothing; Hamilton gets to hit behind the likes of Elvis Andrus and Ian Kinsler, while Votto's manager Dusty Baker doesn't understand the concept of putting high-OBP guys in front of his MVP hitter.
What makes the Hamilton-over-Votto selection most egregious is their June statistics. One would think that recent performance would have a big impact on players' votes. So how does this make any sense:
Joey Votto in June: .392/.487/.691, 6 HRs, 18 RBIs, 1.8 WAR
Josh Hamilton in June: .223/.318/.436, 4 HRs, 16 RBIs, 0.3 WAR
Votto has outplayed Hamilton for the year. Votto vastly outplayed Hamilton in June. Are the players not paying any attention?
Of course, it should be noted that while Hamilton got 17% of the vote in the players' poll, he got a whopping 23% in the public poll, with Votto receiving just 13%. So I guess you could say that professional baseball players are just less wrong than everyone else.
No comments:
Post a Comment