- Manny Machado (+2200) San Diego Padres
Coming off his own MVP campaign in 2020 Manny will be looking to replicate that season but in a full 162 game season. In 2020 Manny had outstanding stats with a .304 BA, 16 HR, 47 RBI, with a .950 OPS, 161 OPS+, and a .580 SLG%. In 2021 I expect Manny to be hovering around that .280-.290 BA range with around 32-40 HRs and a +1 OPS. That’s enough for me to give him the vote for MVP but the problem will be if he can get out of the shadow of his teammate Fernando Tatis and show everybody that he’s still an ELITE player.
- Shohei Ohtani (+3000) Los Angeles Angels
If we’re gonna be getting the Ohtani from Spring Training the league MUST watch out for this kid. In 2018 Ohtani broke baseball by that I mean he was dominant in every single thing he did which was both pitching and hitting. The 2018 ROTY will look to become elite again with his 1st fully healthy season since that historic season. So if Ohtani can hover around a 2.50 – 3.20 ERA and can have over 25+ HR’s with solid OPS, SLG % and be at the top of every Percentile ranking again, I would think the Angles would have a MVP not named Mike Trout.
- Luis Robert (+2500) Chicago White Sox
Now there’s a lot of MVP candidates on the White Sox like reigning MVP Jose Abreu, Tim Anderson, Yoan Moncada but the dark horse that could really take them over the top is the 2nd year leap of Luis Robert. When you talk about a 5-tool player Luis Robert should be brought up with the best of them. He has the potential of winning a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger in the same year. Elite defender, Elite hitter, Elite speed, to put it short the kid has everything you want. People inside of the White Sox organization and their fans expect him to take that Juan Soto 2nd year leap this year and I expect that as well. In a full season Robert probably would have won ROTY over Kyle Lewis so hopefully we get to see it this year. You can expect 25-35 HR depending on the leap with a high OPS, SLG%, and expect his defensive stats to be INSANE because he might be at the end of the year a top 3 defensive CF in baseball but that’s just my opinion.
- Giancarlo Stanton (+4000) New York Yankees
Well here I am as a hopeful Yankee fan hoping and praying for this team to be healthy for a whole season. The last time Stanton was healthy he was the MVP of the 2018 NY Yankees and carried them to the playoffs where they lost in the ALDS. During the 2020 Postseason, Stanton showed what he looks like when he’s healthy which is a Homerun monster and that’s what we’re expecting from Giancarlo this season. If Big G is healthy the whole season you can expect 40+ HR 100+ RBI, +1 OPS, .700 – .800 SLG% and top 99% in Hard Hit Percentile and clearly that’s enough for a MVP because he did it before in 2017 and if he’s healthy he’s one of the league’s best.
- Ketel Marte (+3000) Arizona Diamondbacks
I’m aware 2020 was an awful season for Ketel for what he had in 2019 but that’s why he’s a dark horse MVP for me. In 2019 Ketel had a .319 BA with 32 HR, 92 RBI, .981 OPS, and a 148 OPS+. Those stats are insane and if he was on any other team that wasn’t named the Arizona Diamondbacks he would have been NL MVP. If Ketel can carry the Diamondbacks to a Wild Card game (no happening) and improve the 2019 stats then he should get some votes towards his MVP campaign.
TheDyspatch 