Having done my Central League ballot, it’s time to move on to the Pacific League, where, it will be eight years since 2013 when I last cast a first-place MVP vote for a pitcher, Masahiro Tanaka.
For each league, we get to cast three votes for MVP. The winner is the player with the highest point total of their 5-point first-place votes, 3-point second-place votes, and their 1-point third-place votes.
We then get to cast one ballot for rookie of the year and for the Best Nine, which is actually a Best 10 in the PL, but who’s counting.
I wrote about my MVP methodology while evaluating rival methods in “Most valuable what?”
Who I’ve got
My top pick for MVP was Yoshinobu Yamamoto. I generally don’t go for pitchers, simply because the way they are currently used makes it hard for them to match the impact over the course of a season of a batter who also contributes defensive value. My next two picks were Hawks outfielder Yuki Yanagita and Lions catcher Tomoya Mori, who got my third-place vote because the Lions finished last instead of fourth.
Rookie of the year
I think we should have an award for the first-half rookie of the year and call it the “Canseco-Joyner Award.” As some of you remember, the 1986 American League rookie of the year award was more or less decided in the media at the all-star break that it would be won by either Jose Canseco or Wally Joiner.
Joyner had a .906 OPS as a first baseman with the California Angels–I think they were in California then, they may be in Los Angeles now–while Canseco had an .886 OPS. Canseco took 110 points, Joyner 98. Blue Jays pitcher March Eichorn had an impressive–but less-spectacular–first half, but whose second half was just as good.
Canseco totaled 3.1 WAR, Joyner 3.2, and Eichorn 7.3.
I bring that up because both the PL and CL rookie of the year races were like that this year. If you asked me in June, there was no doubt that Teruaki Sato of the Tigers and Hiroya Miyagi of the Buffaloes would be easy winners. Although Miyagi didn’t totally fade from view, he didn’t do much either, while Sato crashed and burned in a smoky pile of strikeouts.
I think we should give Miyagi and Sato the Canseco-Joyner Award for 2021 in recognition that it isn’t over till it’s over, Yogi. I fully expect Miyagi to win, but my vote goes to Hiromi Ito of the Fighters.
Best Ten
The toughest choice I had for the PL Best 10 was at second base, where I went with Shogo Nakamura over Hideto Asamura, who came on strong at the end of the season after being in the doghouse for an unexplained stretch during the summer, which actually helped the Eagles because they brought up Tsuyoshi Yamasaki to play in his spot and he was fun.
There wasn’t a lot to choose from between Asamura and Nakamura, but Nakamura’s Marines finished well ahead of the Eagles and that’s got to count for something.
Anyway, here are my votes:
