Delmon Young an MVP, Really That Crazy?

Before Minnesota Twins fans and bloggers pwn, own, or l33t my newbie/noob butt, hear me out.

Twins outfielder Delmon Young has arguably been the Twins most consistent and clutch bat.

I’m not suggesting Young is hands-down the clear AL MVP by all means, but with the incredible season he is having we should give him some credit.  I honestly believe Young is a legitimate top-5 candidate (at the very least, top-10) for the 2010 AL MVP.

Now, to be clear, I’m not one of those crazy-genius statistical baseball bloggers (UZR, fan-graphs…etc.)  I’m what these veteran bloggers would call a noob-slice.  I mostly blog news I get from the web and on Twitter.

I already lost where I’m trying to get at…. oh yes, that’s right…  Anyway….

According to ESPN.com‘s season projections, Young is on pace for a eye-opening monster year.  I want to compare these numbers to first baseman Justin Morneau’s 2006 AL MVP season.  Let’s look at it:

If the projections hold true, Young will have a season not quite as good as the season Morneau had in 2006…. but not by much.  I want to note that even if Young were to finish the year batting 3,4 or 5, he spent most of the season batting in the 6,7 or even 8 hole.

Now yes, that is only the offensive aspect of their seasons.  That is when the fan-graphs and UZR comes in and where I am the noob-slice.

In 2006, Morneau had 8 errors and Young is projected to have 5, maybe 6 errors.  Morneau’s defense in 2006 was good, but his defense didn’t noticeably show up until 2008.

I know… I don’t need to be a UZR genius to know that Young’s range is limited and made a few bone-headed plays in left field.  But the truth is, he has improved more defensively than many of us could have imagined.  His arm is still above average and already has 7 throwing assists so far this season.

Chances are extremely slim that Young wins AL MVP, but the thought of him as a candidate shouldn’t be as ridiculous as some of you see it.  He has a history of heating up for the stretch so it is not crazy to think he can keep up at his current pace or do even better.

….. or I’m a complete idiot, which is a strong probability.

Note: Season projections based off projections from August 5, 2010.

Shortlink: