What if the MVP award were limited to position players? The piece notes that pitchers have won MVPs in the past and remain eligible, but that the prevailing view that “pitchers have their own award” creates an uphill battle for hurlers in MVP voting, even though some pitchers have produced MVP-worthy seasons.
The analysis highlights Pete Crow-Armstrong, whose strong June pushed him to the top of the position-player AXE leaderboard in the majors. It also uses a hypothetical in which pitchers were ineligible for MVP: in that scenario, Shohei Ohtani would rank sixth in the National League MVP race for his work as a designated hitter while remaining fifth in the Cy Young race, and Crow-Armstrong would be the player to beat in the NL MVP chase, according to the AXE rankings.
In the American League, Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals leads the AXE MVP leaderboard at 142.2, according to the rankings. The next nine on the AL AXE list are Yordan Alvarez (139.2), Nick Kurtz (137.2), Kevin McGonigle (135.0), Dillon Dingler (130.6), Miguel Vargas (128.6), Yandy Diaz (126.5), Cody Bellinger (125.9), Junior Caminero (125.6) and Willson Contreras (125.0).
The leaderboard notes that Witt has continued to produce even as the Royals struggle in the standings. His AXE standing is bolstered by strong defensive metrics rather than dominant offensive totals; among AL hitters he is tied for sixth in runs created. Witt also missed a few games with a right knee issue, and the piece says there is still time for him to build separation in the race.
Junior Caminero is identified as the biggest mover, driven by a recent home-run binge that has helped the Tampa Bay Rays’ resurgence and pushed him into MVP conversation, according to the AXE analysis. Caminero remains second on his team in AXE behind Yandy Diaz. The piece adds that homers are not new for Caminero — he hit 45 last season at age 21 — and that his strikeout rate has fallen each of his four big-league seasons while his walk rate has more than doubled since last year.
