Jose Ramirez deserved more love in the AL MVP voting process

Cleveland Indians third baseman Jose Ramirez had a great chance to finally take home the AL MVP, but lost out to an in-division rival

Cleveland Indians third baseman Jose Ramirez is all-too familiar with the AL MVP discussions. In the past four seasons, Ramirez was named a finalist for the prestigious award, but never received enough first-place votes to secure the award. Unfortunately for him, the theme stuck, even in the unusual year that was 2020.

On Thursday, the Baseball Writer’s Association of America gave the 2020 AL MVP award to Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu. Ramirez finished second on the ballot, just ahead of New York Yankees infielder D.J. LeMaheiu. While Abreu was definitely deserving of the award, Ramirez deserved a bit more love by the writers.

Ramirez deserved some love from the BBWAA

When it comes to determining the the winner, the writers took the old-school approach by picking the guy who led the league in RBI, as Abreu averaged one per game in the 60 game stretch. It certainly helped that he also led the league in hits (76), total bases (148) and slugging percentage (.617). As for who was the more valuable payer to their team, Ramirez takes it hands down.

According to Fangraph’s formula, Ramirez held a wins above replacement (WAR) of 3.4, which ranked higher than Abreu’s 2.6. Additionally, Ramirez actually tied 2020 NL MVP winner and Atlanta Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman. Yet, that wasn’t enough, despite how much baseball writers love the WAR stat.

Sure, Ramirez didn’t have the same amount of home runs and RBI as Abreu, but he did lead in other statistical categories. The Indians third baseman recorded 45 hits and 34 extra base hits (tied with Abreu), both of which ranked atop the AL.

All in all, Ramirez slashed .292/.386/.607, while recording 17 home runs and 46 RBI.

The Indians could have had their first AL MVP winner since fellow third baseman Al Rosen did so back in 1953. While it’s never a bad thing to finish runner-up to a player who put up the numbers like Abreu did, the margin of victory should have been a bit closer.