BRANDON GUSTAFSON Mariners’ Julio Rodríguez has MLB’s attention — and should be in MVP race

[ivotuk]

And being on the big stage and catching the eye of the entire sports world should hopefully shed light onto something else when it comes to “The J-Rod Show.” Not only is he the runaway favorite to win the American League Rookie of the Year, but his elite play for a surging Mariners team in the midst of a 14-game winning streak should have him on the MVP radar.

Mariners' Julio Rodríguez has MLB's attention, and should be in MVP race

Julio Rodríguez is on his way to a Rookie of the Year Award, but Brandon Gustafson says the Mariners CF should get love in the MVP race, too.

sports.mynorthwest.com

 

[ivotuk]

These are funny!!

Ronald Acuña Jr.'s terrible Home Run Derby pitcher had MLB fans making plenty of jokes​

Ronald Acuña Jr.'s terrible Home Run Derby pitcher had MLB fans making plenty of jokes

He had some nasty cutters!

ftw.usatoday.com

 

[ivotuk]

Franmy Pena's 6 Pitch overlay when pitching to Julio in the Home Run Derby.

 

[sutz]

Franmy Pena did Julio right. No fancy windup, no theatrics. Just put the ball in the best place for Julio to hit it. He didn't have a lot of throwaway pitches.

 

[Bobblehead]

Sunday morning buisquits

 

[Chapow]

And being on the big stage and catching the eye of the entire sports world should hopefully shed light onto something else when it comes to “The J-Rod Show.” Not only is he the runaway favorite to win the American League Rookie of the Year, but his elite play for a surging Mariners team in the midst of a 14-game winning streak should have him on the MVP radar.

Julio is definitely the leading candidate for AL Rookie of the Year right now, but no, he isn't in the MVP race, nor should he be.

Aaron Judge
Shohei Ohtani
Yordan Alvarez
Rafael Devers
Jose Ramirez

Those are the guys in the MVP race, and they all have better numbers than Julio in pretty much every category that matters other than stolen bases. And lets not forget that Ohtani is pitching at an elite level every 5 days while also being a very, very good hitter.

Hopefully Julio will get there in the future. I believe he can. But he's not a legitimate MVP candidate this season. At least, not so far.