This season marks my fourth as a member of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, and every award I’ve voted on has been pretty straight forward.
In 2022, I voted Michael Harris II for NL Rookie of the Year. Blake Snell was my NL Cy Young in ‘23 (though I gave Logan Webb a lot of consideration) and Pat Murphy was my NL Manager of the Year in ‘24. This year, I selected Shohei Ohtani as my NL MVP — as did everyone else who had a vote.
Ohtani was the easy pick for myself and everyone else who had a vote, but the real fun — and real agony — resided in the rest of the spots. What did I consider valuable, and to what extent?
So, here’s both my ballot and my thought process. It was a fun process, and it’s possible I look back on my selections a couple years (or days) from now and shake my head.
(Note: I will refer to FanGraphs’ version of WAR unless otherwise specified)
Honorable Mention: Pete Crow-Armstrong
There was a point in the first half when I flirted with the idea of placing Pete Crow-Armstrong at the top of my ballot. So, it still feels a bit odd that I left him off entirely.
Crow-Armstrong became the 12th center fielder (min. 100 games) to total at least 30 homers, 30 steals, 90 runs and 90 RBIs in a single season, doing so while providing generational defense. But for all the counting stats, I couldn’t look past his .287 on-base percentage or how his production completely fell off a cliff in the second half (.262 OBP, 72 wRC+).
I will not argue with those who include Crow-Armstrong on their ballots. It’s possible that I’m overvaluing offense and undervaluing defense and baserunning. For me, PCA gets an honorable mention.
No. 10: Brice Turang
Turang’s numbers admittedly don’t jump off the page like those of Crow-Armstrong, but the second half is where the Brewers’ second baseman truly shined. Turang’s 2.8 WAR and 155 wRC+ were both fifth in the National League after the All-Star break, and he helped lead Milwaukee to the best regular-season record in baseball.
No. 9: Fernando Tatis Jr.
This was Tatis’ best all-around season since he finished third in MVP in 2021. On offense, he hit 25 homers, stole a career-high 32 bases and posted an .814 OPS. On defense, he was worth +8 outs above average and won his second Platinum Glove (though Patrick Bailey had a considerably higher Fielding Run Value).
No. 8: Francisco Lindor
For Lindor, this was another standard season of excellence: 31 homers, 31 steals and a 129 OPS+ while playing great defense at a premium position. He’s averaged about 32 homers and 30 steals over the last three seasons, and if he stole just one more base in 2024, he would’ve joined Howard Johnson as the only other Met with three such seasons.
No. 7: Trea Turner
Turner played at an All-Star level during his first two seasons in Philadelphia, but this was the first year he looked like a true star with the Phillies. He didn’t quite have the same offensive output as Tatis or Lindor despite leading the National League in batting average (.304), but Turner posted the sixth-highest WAR in the majors thanks to his +17 outs above average at a premium position.
No. 6 Paul Skenes
Here’s where I arrived at my first difficult question: Would I rather have an elite starting pitcher for 32 starts? That is, how good would a pitcher have to be in 2025 to be worth more than an everyday player?
Let’s take a look at what Skenes did this season.
After winning NL Rookie of the Year in 2024, Skenes finished his second season with a 1.97 ERA and 216 strikeouts over 187 2/3 innings. There have only been eight other seasons who pitched at least 180 innings with a sub-two ERA this millenium: Pedro Martinez (2000), Roger Clemens (2005), Clayton Kershaw (2013, 2014), Zack Greinke (2015), Jake Arrieta (2015), Blake Snell (2018) and Jacob deGrom (2018).
Just for fun, but do you know how many other starters post-integration have posted those same numbers in their age 23-or-younger season? Just three: Dwight Gooden (20, 1985), Vida Blue (21, 1971) and Dean Chance (23, 1964).
Did Skenes have a generational season? Not quite. Did he have a season worthy of MVP votes? Absolutely.
No. 5: Corbin Carroll
When I began sorting out my ballot, I started by assigning players a range. That is, what’s the highest or lowest I’d vote for them?
My low end for Carroll was No. 5, which is where he lands. But the high end? No. 2.
Let’s start with some of the counting stats that jump out: 31 homers, 32 doubles, 17 triples, 32 steals, 107 runs. How many players have been part of the extremely arbitrary 30-HR, 30-2B, 15-3B, 30-SB, 100-R club? Just Carroll and Jimmy Rollins.
If I lower the parameters to: 25 homers, 25 doubles, 10 triples, 25 steals, 90 runs? Only 15 such seasons. He provided all that offensive production while being worth +10 outs above average.
The difference between him being second and him being fifth was the little time he missed due to injury. If he played at least 157 games instead of 143, he likely would’ve eclipsed the 7 WAR mark and landed right behind Ohtani.
No. 4: Gerlado Perdomo
No. 3: Kyle Schwarber
No. 2: Juan Soto
Perdomo hit 20 homers, stole 27 bases, had the fifth-highest on-base percentage in the majors (.389) and played great defense at a premium position. It amounted to the second-highest WAR (both Baseball Reference and FanGraphs) in the National League. And it’s here I had to tackle another difficult question:
At what point does singular offensive value usurp total all-around value?
I was tempted to put Perdomo at No. 2, but Soto and Schwarber were just a bit too good offensively for me to put Perdomo in my top-three. This is not to undermine the value of defense or baserunning, but rather a reminder that offense in baseball is king. So, then how good were Soto and Schwarber?
Schwarber led the National League in homers (56) and the majors in RBIs (132) while playing for a team that finished first in their division. It was the 35th instance of a 50-homer, 130-RBI season, and for many voters, that was enough for them to place Schwarber at No. 2.
Soto (43 homers, 105 RBIs) didn’t match Schwarber’s counting stats, but he led the National League with a .396 on-base percentage and the majors in walks (127). Schwarber had more pop (and had a slightly higher weighted on-base average), but Soto had the slight edge in wRC+ and OPS+ thanks to his on-base ability.
The real surprise with Soto, of course, was the steals. After averaging roughly eight steals from 2018-24, Soto nearly pulled off the most unexpected 40/40 season in recent memory and led the National League with 38 steals. If we lower the bar just a touch, it’s still just the seventh 40-homer, 38-steal season in major-league history.
Soto and Schwarber both had awesome offensive seasons, but ultimately, I leaned Soto. He got on base considerably more than Schwarber — avoiding outs is the name of the game — and he provided new-found value on the bases.
No. 1: Shohei Ohtani
I used a lot of words to explain the rest of my ballot. I don’t need a lot to explain here.
With his fourth MVP, Ohtani joins Barry Bonds as the only other player to win the hardware more than three times. He’s in the midst of one of the best runs in major-league history, and we can only wonder whether he has more heights to reach.