It’s still very early in the MLB season but we can start to see who the early frontrunners in the MVP races are in each league.
The MVP race for both the American League and the National League are far from decided but it’s always fun to take a look at the race every month. Candidates in the running right now may be long forgotten by late September. There’s some pretty big names right now that are on the forefront and some that should likely be getting more attention.
Perhaps the biggest example of this is Oakland Athletics infielder Jed Lowrie. He’s having a massive start to the campaign. He’s hitting over .360 with a .420 on-base percentage and he’s in the top five in RBI in the entire league. Here’s the problem – as well as Lowrie has played and as much as he deserves to be in the running right now, he has basically zero chance to actually win the award. He plays in a small market on the West Coast and is a career journeyman. There’s other options in the A.L. in New York, Boston and Los Angeles. He’s going to have to be so far and above every other choice, it’s going to be borderline impossible. The A’s are doing very well at 13-11 as of Wednesday. They’re still in fourth place. Guys like Lowrie don’t win MVP awards on a fourth place team.
This list will be reoccurring every month and will try to highlight who should be in the mix and who will actually win. Lowrie has been fantastic but he doesn’t make the list. Let’s dive into who is on the list, keeping in mind that all the stats are accurate as of Wednesday, April 25.
5. Rhys Hoskins, Philadelphia Phillies
.328/.495/.612 with 4 HR and 19 RBI
The 25-year old Phillies slugger has had a fantastic start to his 2018 season. His strikeout rate is always going to be over 20 percent just because of the style of player he is. His batting average has seen a major jump and his walk rate has jumped up by almost six full percentage points and would be easily a career high. He’s even stealing bases with three so far this season.
Here’s the potentially scary part for the rest of the National League. Hoskins has seen his HR/FB ratio plummet from over 30 percent in 2017 to 16.7 percent this year. His hard hit rate is also down which suggests his power number are about to get even better. His OPS is already over 1.100 and the most important aspect of his game hasn’t even come around yet. The team aspect of the award is there as well because the Phillies are hanging tough at 14-8. That’s a bit of a surprise and Hoskins has been at the center of the improvement.
Even if the batting average comes down to the .280 range, Hoskins is still a plus in that department. The homers are going to come sooner than later, especially once the weather heats up a little bit. If some of these positive gains in the on-base percentage and the batting average keep up, Hoskins is going to be an absolute terror at the center of the Philadelphia lineup.