Asdrubal Cabrera Finishes 20th in AL MVP Race

The Baseball Writers Association of America unveiled the results of its 2011 American League Most Valuable Player vote Monday, and Asdrubal Cabrera was named the 20th-most valuable player in the AL.

Cabrera was named on three of the 28 ballots cast, once in ninth place and once in tenth place, for a total of 4 points and an award share of 1 percent. He was the only Indians player to receive any votes.

Cabrera, 26, had a breakout year for Cleveland in 2011. The switch-hitting shortstop hit .273/.332/.460 (118 wRC+) with 25 homers, 92 RBI, 87 runs, 17 steals, and 3.8 fWAR (3.7 rWAR) while playing one of the hardest positions on the diamond. Anecdotally, he also earned a reputation as a clutch hitter, and while he isn’t a great fielder he made a number of fantastic web gem plays.

Justin Verlander was named the AL MVP after receiving 13 first-place votes (280 total points, 71 percent award share), followed by Jacoby Ellsbury (4 first-place votes, 62 percent award share), Jose Bautista (5, 59 percent), Curtis Granderson (3, 55 percent), and Miguel Cabrera (2, 49 percent). Michael Young (24 percent award share) also got a first-place vote.

Former Indians CC Sabathia (14th place, 3 percent award share) and Victor Martinez (17th plate, 2 percent) also received votes.

In spite of his great season, I would not have included Cabrera on my MVP ballot. In fact, had I included an Indians player it would have been Justin Masterson, not Cabrera.

In the mock votes I participated in, I put Bautista at the top of my ballot, followed by Ellsbury, Verlander, Miguel Cabrera, Ian Kinsler, Dustin Pedroia, Adrian Gonzalez, Evan Longoria, Granderson, and Ben Zobrist, in that order.

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