Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant was voted the 2016 National League MVP, selected ahead of Washington Nationals second baseman Daniel Murphy and Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager.
Bryant received 29 of 30 first-place votes. He joins Cal Ripken Jr. (1982, 1983), Ryan Howard (2005, 2006) and Dustin Pedroia (2007, 2008) as the lone players in MLB history to win Rookie of the year and MVP in consecutive seasons.
Bryant hit .292/.385/.554 with 35 doubles, 39 home runs, 102 RBI, 121 runs scored and a 149 OPS+ for a Cubs team that led the Majors with 103 wins and won their first World Series since 1908.
His 39 home runs were the most by a Cubs player since Derrek Lee slugged 46 homers in 2005. Beyond prolific offensive production, Bryant provided the Cubs with positional flexibility, starting games at first base, third base, left field and right field.
Seager and Murphy tied for second-place votes (11) and third-place selections (10). Murphy edged the rising start in total points, 245 to 240.
The Dodgers were also represented by Justin Turner, whose highest vote was fifth place. Turner finished ninth in voting with 44 points. Yasmani Grandal received one seventh-place vote.
Although Seager didn’t manage to pull an upset in MVP voting, it should not put a damper on his 2016 season. He’s the first rookie, youngest overall player and youngest shortstop in Los Angeles franchise history to finish in the top three of MVP voting.
Seager was the unanimous selection for NL Rookie of the Year honors this week, and previously won the Players Choice Award for NL Outstanding Rookie, and was named NL Rookie of the Year by Baseball America and Sporting News.
Seager batted .308/.365/.512 with a 137 OPS+, .372 wOBA and 137 wRC+ over 157 games. He led qualified players on the team in batting average, on-base percentage, total hits (193), doubles (40), triples (five) and was second in home runs (26).
The 22-year-old paced qualified NL shortstops in doubles, home runs, batting average, slugging, wOBA, wRC+, was second in OBP and third in RBI. He broke Steve Sax’s Los Angeles franchise record for most hits in a single season (180 in 1982).
In addition, Seager also set a Dodgers franchise record for most home runs by a shortstop in a season, broke Eric Karros’ rookie record for most doubles (30), and with 321 total bases broke Mike Piazza’s rookie record (307).
Murphy himself put together a terrific campaign, batting .347/.390/.595, with 47 doubles, 25 home runs and 104 RBI over 142 games in his first season with the Nationals. Murphy led the NL in slugging and on-base plus slugging (.595).
