Red Sox: Rafael Devers should’ve been an MVP finalist and can be in 2020
The Boston Red Sox didn’t have an MVP candidate this year, but that can all change in 2020 if we see another superstar effort from Rafael Devers.
It was disappointing to see that the Red Sox didn’t have a finalist for the BBWAA AL MVP Award for the 2019 season. I understand the politics behind it as the season was a wash and Boston didn’t even sniff the postseason. With that said though, there were some seriously great performances during the campaign, most notably from third baseman Rafael Devers.
When it comes to the American League MVP there are really one two spots that can change from season to season. As long as Mike Trout is in the league he will always be considered for the award, no matter how awful the Angels are. This is a curious case as many top players will get looked over if their teams don’t perform well, and that’s what happened with Devers and teammate Xander Bogaerts.
WAR is often the key citation when naming off finalists for the MVP award and to a certain degree I’m fine with it, but it shouldn’t be the final nail in the coffin. Trout’s WAR for this season was a ridiculous 8.3 and rightfully so, he’d make any team better just by wearing their jersey.
The Angels still finished in fourth place at 72-90, so how much of a difference did he really make? It’s a great marker to use and should be bundled with numerous other factors and not be the ultimate punctuation.
This brings me back to Devers and what he was able to do for the Red Sox throughout this last year. It felt like with each passing game he was doing something that either nobody else has ever done or hasn’t done in generations. He found his named linked with Ted Williams on so many occasions I lost track. Last time I checked, that’s a pretty damn good player to be linked to.
During the World Series, we were constantly hit over the head with the age of Nationals left fielder Juan Soto. Much like Trout, he’s one of those guys that can transcend the game and has more ability in his pinky than many teams have in an entire clubhouse.
People tend to forget that Devers was a key component on a World Series winning team at just 22-years-old. He followed that up by having one of the best seasons by a third baseman ever.
So if Raffy continues to just rake at the plate and continues to improve his defense, then why can’t he be the MVP? The thing is, he absolutely can, so as long as the voters look at the big picture. Devers should’ve found himself as a finalist this season, he didn’t need to win but he should’ve been in the conversation.
Joining Trout as finalists were Marcus Semien and Alex Bregman, both are fantastic players in their own right. Let’s look at the numbers though and see how they stack up against Raffy when things are right in front of us.
- Bregman: .296/.423/.592/1.015/37 2B/41 HR/112 RBI
- Semien: .285/.369/.522/.892/43 2B/33 HR/92 RBI
- Devers: .311/.361/.555/.916/54 2B/32 HR/115 RBI
When the stats are laid out in black and white it’s a pretty confusing process that Rafael wasn’t more involved in the MVP race. Devers led in three categories, Bregman in four, and Semien not a single category.
In fact, Semian came in last out of these three in four of the seven offensive categories. Bregman should absolutely be on that list with Trout, but Semien shouldn’t have gotten the nod over Devers. For a sport that is at the highest peak of analytics and numbers, how the hell aren’t we letting the numbers talk?
The big difference between Devers and Semien is that the A’s made it to the postseason and he played in every single game of the 2019 season while Raffy missed a handful and Boston stunk. Then that pesky old WAR comes back into play, Bregman (8.4), Semien (8.1), and Devers (5.3). Granted I’m focusing my attention on the offensive side of things, but that’s where we’re at with baseball in 2019.
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Yes, there are all these other metrics and analytics that exist but when it’s all said and done it will come back to the same numbers that we’ve always looked at. The best part about having the kind of season that Devers did and not getting any spotlight, he’s gonna use that as fuel. He’s going to attack 2020 with some fire and anger to prove that he should’ve been there.
How do I know this? It’s what I’d do. It’s what any competitive person would do. We may not always come out and say it but deep down that fire is getting hotter and hotter and there’s only one way to feed that beast. I don’t know Raffy personally by any means but he’s a competitor and he’s not going to like having his name ignored after what he did in 2019.
There’s a lot of uncertainty for the Red Sox coming real soon as we hit the offseason, but one thing that isn’t uncertain is Rafael Devers. At just 23-years-old he is becoming not just one of the premier third basemen in the league but an outright superstar. Carita showed a great work ethic last winter and throughout the season and that should only expand ahead of next year.
Next. Xander Bogaerts should've been an MVP finalist. dark
I’m damn near positive that we’ll see Trout as an MVP candidate for 2020 barring any sort of disaster. I also have the faith that we’ll see another powerhouse year from Rafael Devers and he’ll find himself on that finalist list. The Red Sox will need all hands on deck if they want to be contenders again in 2020 and having Devers in the lineup is a big step in that direction.