The MVPs 2021

On Wednesday, Nippon Professional Baseball announced its Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year Awards, decided as the Best Nines and Golden Gloves are, in a poll by members of Japan’s baseball media with five years under their belts.

Let’s start with the MVP voting, and I’ll get to the rookie stuff tomorrow.

Munetaka Murakami, who finished second in WAR in the CL to Seiya Suzuki (8.7-6.8), according to Delta Graphs became, at the age of 21, the youngest MVP in Japanese pro baseball history.

Suzuki did get five first-place votes, which is pretty darn impressive for a player who didn’t set any big records on a team that finished out of the playoffs. I love the vote distribution on pennant-winning teams, since seven voters ostensibly thought Swallows setup man Noboru Shimizu, who did set a record for holds, was the best player in the CL.

The Central League vote

NameTeam1st2nd3rdTotalShare
Munetaka MurakamiS2871071472.962
Tetsuto YamadaS19849348.227
Noboru ShimizuS75749255.166
Kazuma OkamotoG13428135.088
Seiya SuzukiC52132120.078
Robert SuarezT02627105.068
Yuhei NakamuraS1162477.050
Norichika AokiS28640.026
Yasutaka ShiomiS13721.013
Ryoji KuribayashiC12819.012
Scott McGoughS04618.011
Koji ChikamotoT02915.009
Koyo AoyagiT011114.009
Yasunobu OkugawaS03312.007
Yuya YanagiD02511.007
Ryuta KonoS0022.001

The Pacific League vote

I understand people voting for Yutaro Sugimoto over Yamamoto, but I don’t get the Hiroya Miyagi vote. One voter left Yamamoto off his ballot, which I also don’t particularly object to, unless it was the same voter who thought the rookie was the best pitcher on the team.

NameTeam1st2nd3rdTotalShare
Yoshinobu YamamotoB283111419.992
Yutaro SugimotoB212090460.321
Masataka YoshidaB0107100421.294
Hiroya MiyagiB12939131.091
Naoya MasudaM04416.011
Takashi OginoM01811.007
Yuki YanagitaH03211.007
Brandon LairdM0147.004
Hiroaki ShimauchiE0125.003
Takahiro NorimotoE0103.002
Takuya KaiH0103.002
Tomoya MoriL0033.002
Leonys MartinM0022.0014
Kotaro KurebayashiB0011.0007
Takahiro OkadaB0011 .0007
Yoshihisa HiranoB0011 .0007
Yuma MuneB0011 .0007
Chihaya SasakiM0011 .0007
Kaima TairaL0011 .0007

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