Two people who are finalists for the BBWAA Award are Ronald Acuña Jr. and Brian Snitker. Matt Olson turned down
This past Monday night on MLB Network, the Baseball Writers Association in the United States named the top three candidates for each of their big awards.
It comes down to Ronald Acuña Jr. or manager Brian Snitker for the Atlanta Braves. There are two more people in the running for General of the Year, and Acuña is still in the running for MVP.
In 159 games, Acuña hit.337/.416/.596 with a 170 wRC+, which was a great season at the plate.
He was the initial player in big league history to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases. He was also the fifth player in baseball history to do so.
He scored 149 runs, which is a contemporary times Braves franchise record. He also stole 73 bases, which is a modern-day team record, beating Otis Nixon’s 72 in 1991.
Snitker helped the Braves win 104 games and win their sixth straight division title. In 2018, Snitker got the award. In 2019, and 2022, he came in third.
One person that’s not on this list was Matt Olson. About ten years ago, Olson would be considered the clear favorite to win the MVP Award because he had 54 home runs and 139 RBI, which were the most in the big leagues.
Oddly enough, Olson is not in the running because Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and Acuña, all from the Dodgers, are already chosen.
News from The Sporting News says that Atlanta Braves center Ronald Acuña Jr. and manger Brian Snitker have both won one among their regular-season awards, which were chosen by the players.
In a custom that goes back to 1936, 376 MLB players were polled. Atlanta won two awards: MLB Player of the Week Year while NL Manager of the Year.
Many people thought Acuña would be named National League MVP, but he won 242 votes to become The Sporting News’ MLB Player Person of the Year.
The second-place finisher was Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels, who can hit and field. Mookie Betts of the Los Angeles Dodgers came in third with 36 points.
Matt Olson (17) of the Atlanta Braves and Corey Seager (15) of the Texas Rangers round out the top five.
This season, Acuña had the first 40/70 season in MLB history. It was Acuña’s best season ever in baseball, with 217 hits, 149 runs, 73 stolen bases, an on-base percentage of.416, and 383 total bases.
He also had the most plate appearances (735), at-bats (643), OPS (1.012), and OPS+ (168). Everything else was done by him.
Last year, Murphy played catcher for the Oakland Athletics, who faced the Braves in Atlanta four times. From where he was behind home plate, Murphy was amazed by the Braves’ batters.
Murphy said, “I remember that before they left town, we were looking at the players as a staff, especially the pitchers or catchers, and saying that this is the best team in the league.” “Not even close. It was 1-1. They were very scary.
The Braves were very good in 2022, but they couldn’t win the World Series for the second year in a row.
They went 101–61 and beat the New York Mets in a playoff to win the National League East title. However, they lost to their division rivals, the Philadelphia Phillies, in an NL Division Series.
This season, the Braves have even better. They have the best record in the big leagues, 72–41.
The Braves have a huge 9 1/2-game lead on the Phillies to the NL East in 49 games to play, even though they have lost three of their four road games in Chicago and Pittsburgh this season. Their trip ends this weekend with the New York Mets.
Murphy now gets watching the Braves every day after being traded from the Athletics in the off-season. He then signed a six-year, $72 million deal that makes him a Brave until the 2028 season.