Houston Astros Second Baseman Jose Altuve Wins 2017 AL MVP; Jose Ramirez Finishes Third In Voting

The season-end MLB awards are finishing up today and as the normal ritual, the Most Valuable Player award is announced last. This year, the Cleveland Indians had a finalist in third baseman/second baseman Jose Ramirez. However, Ramirez would not win the award. The AL MVP honors instead went to Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve.

Though he did not win the award, that does not take away from the fantastic year Ramirez had. He has certainly come into his own since being the backup third baseman to Juan Uribe. After finishing seventeenth in MVP voting last season, Ramirez continues to shine through the bunch as one of the best young baseball players in the world.

Ramirez boasted a .318 batting average along with 29 home runs and 83 runs batted in. Also, in what is becoming more and more the most important stat in baseball, Ramirez had a WAR of 6.9. For those not entirely familiar with the WAR, that stands for wins-above-replacement. Basically, Ramirez ensures seven more wins with him in the lineup.

Ramirez stepped up in a crucial point of the season when Jason Kipnis went down with an injury. As second base stood void of an infielder, Ramirez made the team move and shifted to the middle of the infield to tag-team with his former Lake County Captain teammate Francisco Lindor. In a spot where he played in the minors, it was safe to say that comfortability wasn’t a worry for the fiery-haired Tribe infielder.

But no one could deny Jose Altuve. Already heralded in Houston, Texas for bringing home the franchise’s first World Series championship, he has become one of the Astros’ greats through his seven years with the organization. He boasts a .346 batting average on the campaign, an average good enough to lead the majors this past season. He hit 24 long balls and brought home 81 runs during Houston’s run to the World Series crown. In the WAR category, Altuve claimed 8.9 more wins than his replacement on the field.

The New York Yankees’ right fielder Aaron Judge finished in second place while attempting to claim the AL MVP as a rookie. Judge’s most notable stat comes in the home runs category, sending 52 baseballs to the bleachers in the campaign. He held a WAR of 8.1 and brought in 114 runs while batting .284. Judge was named AL Rookie of the Year earlier this week and is one of the staples of the critically-acclaimed “Baby Bombers” that reside in the Bronx.

The Tribe’s shortstop Francisco Lindor and ace Corey Kluber both also finished in the top ten for AL Most Valuable Player voting, placing fifth and seventh respectively.

Below are the complete voting results for the AL MVP award:

AL MVP voting wound up not very close at the top. pic.twitter.com/oSFWCkGAt1

— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) November 16, 2017