Mookie Betts
Mookie Betts (B1) took the league by storm last season as a true leader and ended up losing out to Mike Trout in the race for the 2016 American League MVP Award.
Betts was simply put, a man on a mission. Every single one of his numbers went up except for his total number of triples, which went down slightly, and doubles, which remained the same. He almost joined the 30/30 club, missing it by 4 stolen bases. Betts was so on point that he almost led the league in every offensive category.
He had 122 runs, one short of the Trout’s league leading total. Betts also had 214 hits, two short of Jose Altuve, who led the league. Betts had 42 doubles for the second season in a row, six short of David Ortiz, who had 48 to lead the league. Betts finished with 113 runs batted in, good for 4th in the AL, just 14 behind teammate and league leader, Big Papi. Furthermore, Betts had a 9.6 WAR just 1 full point behind Trout.
It seemed to be either Mookie Betts or Mike Trout all year long for the MVP award, something to watch for in 2017.