September 07, 2007

Will David Wright Be The First MVP In Mets History?

It's still to early to say who will win the National League MVP in 2007, but one player who is starting to get some much deserved attention, is New York Mets third baseman, David Wright.

Back in April and May when Wright was enduring one of the longest slumps in his career, nobody could have imagined that he would bounce back so strong that he would find himself among the top ten in almost every offensive category. Nobody that is, except of course us Mets fans, who always knew just how special David Wright truly is.

Along with shortstop Jose Reyes, David Wright has become the face of an organization that was looking to restore the team's image back to it's former greatness. The Mets have certainly done that, but one of the things this franchise has never done, was to have one of it's own win a Most Valuable Player award. Sure, their have been some close calls in the mid eighties and then once again during the Mike Piazza era, but second place was as close as the Mets have ever gotten. That is now about to change.

David Wright is quietly putting up numbers that may go down as the greatest single season by any Mets player in the team's history. That's right, I said team history.

David Wright is now among the top contenders in the National League for one of baseball's most cherished individual award.

In my opinion, he is clearly the favorite for the prestigious award, and I can back it up.

Consider the following...

Wright is currently ranked 8th in Batting Avg. (.317), 6th in On-Base Pct. (.417), 8th in Total Bases (276), 9th in RBI (91), 7th in Stolen Bases (30), 6th in Runs Scored (94), and 9th in Walks (82).

His competition this year includes Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder, Chase Utley, Miguel Cabrera, Matt Holiday, Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins.

You can throw away both Matt Holiday and Miguel Cabrera as viable candidates, as each of their teams continue to fall in the standings, and thus MVP consideration.

Prince Fielder is the main reason that the Brewers have done as well as they have this season, but after his 40 HR and 99 RBI, he has nothing on David Wright as far as batting average, steals, and defense are concerned. Still, he poses a threat to David.

Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins and even Ryan Howard will each take votes away from the other, as has been the case a few times in Mets history, and any time that two MVP caliber players hail from the same team.

All three Phillies are having phenomenal seasons, but none of them are as balanced as David Wright is. Ryan Howard is in the top three in homeruns and RBI, but slips in batting average and stolen bases. Utley leads the league in batting and is having a solid year, but Wright out-paces him in RBI, runs, stolen bases, walks, and is a better defender. Rollins has 120 runs scored, but Wright has more stolen bases, home runs, RBI, walks and OBP. Of course, David Wright doesn't play in a park that favors hitters even more so than Coors Field.

That brings us to former MVP Albert Pujols. A month ago, Pujols was not even a consideration, but given the huge turnaround of the Cardinals and the big-time slugger, he is back in the game. However, David Wright has him beat on batting average, runs, RBI and of course, stolen bases.

Am I just an overly enthusiastic Mets fan, or can I confidently say I laid out a good case for David Wright?

David Wright is on the verge of something so special, that we should all take the time to watch every single at-bat, and take in the historical season that is unfolding before our very eyes.

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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

darn straight he will be

Anonymous said...

who else could it be???

Anonymous said...

j-roll nedds to get in the passenger seat and watch wright's votes rack up

Anonymous said...

well said man

Anonymous said...

hanley ramirez is probably the next but his team is so far behind that there isnt a chance