Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts should be an MVP finalist

Boston Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts had an individual season to remember in 2019. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to threaten for the AL MVP award.

The finalists for the end-of-season MLB awards were announced but not a single Boston Red Sox player made the cut. That isn’t exactly a huge surprise, but ultimately it piles on to the disappointment which was the 2019 season.

You can’t really make cases for too many Red Sox players and most of the selections you can’t really argue with either. Boston’s standout players this season were Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers – both of whom had incredible years and would’ve been in the MVP conversation at some point. For me, the former of the two’s season was all the more special after how productive he was in the Red Sox winning 2018 campaign, and his ability to get even better this year.

The AL MVP final three is as follows: Mike Trout, Alex Bregman and Marcus Semien – three names who are more than deserving of their respective spots after the seasons that they produced.

But, you could say the exact same if Bogaerts was to be included. Trout is the best player in baseball. He’s a player who you just expect to be there year-in and year-out. Stat-wise, Bogaerts had a better year than him. Yes, Xander did get 98 more at-bats in than Trout, but his continuity at the plate made for a more solid season. Both players had good defensive seasons but at the plate, they each had a season to remember. I believe that Bogaerts and Trout could easily have been the top two candidates for this award.

Then comes Bregman. The Houston Astros are loaded with talent, which should, on paper, have taken their second World Series title in three years, but the Nat’s had other ideas. Bregman was their leading figure this time around.

Bogaerts had just eight more plate appearances than Bregman through this year’s regular season – making it pretty easy to compare their offensive seasons. Both Bregman and Bogaerts are among the best at making gasping plays on the left of the infield, and both are an absolute joy to watch on both ends.

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The clear difference is Bregman’s discipline that he showed on the year. His ability to take pitches and get on base at a better rate than Bogaerts is the one thing where he takes a massive edge. Bregman walked an MLB-leading 119 times, which contributed hugely to his numbers. From a hitting standpoint, Bogaerts was better – more hits, more doubles, and consistent hitting which led to a .309 average. There are plenty of similarities between their statistics from the plate and on the diamond. They both had MVP caliber seasons – yet again, Xander was unlucky to miss out.

Semien is the one name out of the three that isn’t a perennial candidate. He had his best MLB season by some distance, and even beat Bogaerts to the Gold Glove final three at shortstop.

Semien led the majors in plate appearances, and it’s clear to see he made the most of them. But, was his season really better than Bogaerts’ career year? I don’t think it was. Bogaerts was more productive from the plate. Semien has the edge over Bogaerts in a few things. His run-scoring is one example, and from a hitting standpoint, it could go either way, but for Bogaerts to do what he did this year, especially after his season in 2018, I think it merits MVP contention.

On a whole, the three players still in contention plus Bogaerts were the four best players in the American League this year. Unluckily for Xander, this individual season came at a time where the Sox just weren’t good enough to make it to October, which has a telling decision on the selection process – whether you think it should be a factor or not. It takes nothing away from what Xander accomplished this year. He and Devers are going to form an extremely dynamic duo within the Boston infield over the coming years. And this year was certainly one to remember for him.