A Gold Glove center fielder and a designated hitter are opposite archetypes, but on Thursday, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Yordan Alvarez won the same award: Most Valuable Player.
Crow-Armstrong did it with power, speed and breathtaking defense. He tied Kyle Schwarber for the most homers (45) in the majors while slashing .280/.372/.570/.943. The slugging percentage and OPS marks led the National League. He stole 41 bases in 48 tries, becoming the seventh player to go 40-40 in baseball history. He led the majors with 119 runs scored.
He can also play center field at a high level. In winning a second straight Gold Glove, the 24-year-old led the majors in fielding run value (26) and was 10 points better than the next outfielder (Ceddanne Rafaela of Boston) on the list. Carson Benge led the Mets in FRV with 6.
Alvarez, 29, led the majors in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage with his .316/.432/.601 slash line. He is the fourth player to lead in all three of those categories this century, per MLB.com. The others were Aaron Judge last season, Miguel Cabrera in 2013 and Barry Bonds in 2002.
He also led the majors with 109 walks, 33 of which were intentional. He broke Jeff Bagwell‘s team record for intentional walks (27 in 1997) and fell three short of tying the American League record for intentional free passes in a season, set last year by Judge. The MLB record was set by Bonds in 2004 at 120. Bonds holds six of the top 10 spots for intentional walks in a season.
Alvarez hit 42 homers, second in the A.L. to Pete Alonso (43), drove in 106, second to Alonso’s 113, and scored 105 runs, tied for third with Ben Rice behind Randy Arozarena and Miguel Vargas.
Crow-Armstrong is the 12th Cub to win MVP: Kris Bryant (2016), Sammy Sosa (1998), Andre Dawson (1987), Ryne Sandberg (1984), Ernie Banks (1958, 1959), Hank Sauer (1952), Phil Cavarretta (1945), Gabby Hartnett (1935), Hack Wilson (1930), Rogers Hornsby (1929), Frank Schulte (1911).
Alvarez is the third Astro, joining Jose Altuve (2017) and Bagwell (1994).
The other NL finalists were Shohei Ohtani and Brice Turang. Ohtani had won three straight MVPs, two with the Dodgers and one with the Angels. The AL finalists were Junior Caminero and Bobby Witt Jr.
