MLB First Half Awards

I know; it is just the first half. There are surely people out there that believe the awards race shouldn't be up for discussion till the end of the season.

Well hey, we have to start somewhere to determine who should be MVP; and that goes for any other sport too.

There are some well deserving candidates - particularly in the Race for MVP and Cy Young Awards. 

American League MVP

1B Adrian Gonzalez, Boston Red Sox

The best free agent pick-up of the season is having out-of-this-world MVP numbers. He is batting an incredible .354 Avg with 17HR and 77RBI. The Boston Red Sox were seemingly going to be out of the picture in an always competitive AL East. They had gotten off to a 2-10 start. Since then they are 53-25 and have moved into a one game lead over the New York Yankees. Last time I checked, numbers + winning record= MVP. AGon clearly has both in his favor.

AL Cy Young

SP Jered Weaver, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Now for the AL Cy Young; this was about as tough of a choice I had to make for who deserves it right now. I wanted it to be a tie but that would be a cop out method that I refuse to use. So in a rather close, and I mean CLOSE, decision, I chose Jered Weaver over Justin Verlander. He is 11-4 with a minuscule 1.86 ERA. Why close? Well, Verlander is 12-4 with a 2.15 ERA and a no-hitter. He has four complete games and two shutouts like Weaver. Opponents hit .194 off Weaver and .188 off Verlander; both very impressive. Verlander has 147 K's to Weaver's 120K's. So then, I looked at team record because I couldn't decide. That didn't help considering the Angels are 50-42 and Detroit is 49-43. When all else failed, I looked at the team's offensive stats. Detroit is 8th in runs scored as a team and 5th in batting average among all of baseball. The Angels are 15th in team average and 20th in runs scored. Detroit averages 4.5 runs a game with the Angels at 3.8. Verlander gets more support than Weaver, thus making my decision.

AL Rookie of the Year

SP Michael Pineda, Seattle Mariners

He is 8-6 3.03 ERA in 18 starts. He holds opponents to a .198 batting average. Considering this guy is doing what he is doing for a team that struggles offensively like Seattle does, he has to be the choice. It sure helped on why King Felix won the Cy Young last year.

NL MVP

1B Prince Fielder, Milwaukee Brewers

The Brew Crew are tied for first in the NL Central and Prince is The Number One Suspect to why they are. Prince is hitting .297 with 22HR and 72RBI. He is back on track in his contract year after a disappointing .261 with 32HR and 83RBI last season. Prince should be rewarded with a lucrative deal and his first NL MVP award.

NL Cy Young

SP Jair Jurrjens, Atlanta Braves

He leads the NL in wins with 12 and is second in all of baseball with a 1.87 ERA, following Jered Weaver very closely. He only has 65 strikeouts, so he isn't overpowering. He just gets outs; plain and simple. 

NL Rookie of The Year

CP Craig Kimbrel, Atlanta Braves

I wanted to say First Baseman Gaby Sanchez of the Florida Marlins, but what Kimbrel has done up to this point is more impressive. He leads the league in Saves with 28 and broke the rookie record in saves by the All-Star break with 27. He's got great stuff with 70 K's in 46 innings. He has done enough to currently get the nod for this award.

I know some people may agree or disagree with my choices but, at the end of the day, it's just one man's opinion.

Note: I do NOT take credit for any of these photos.