Brewers: Can Christian Yelich Go Back-To-Back?

After his season was cut short to a fractured kneecap after he fouled a ball off of his knee during a game against the Marlins, Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich could very well still be the National League’s Most Valuable Player for the 2019 season.

It’s no surprise that Milwaukee Brewers superstar Christian Yelich was in the running for the NL MVP award once again. Winning in 2018, it was evident that he was going to go into 2019 improving his numbers and proving that he was MVP worthy and he did just that. His numbers greatly improved this year and even ending his career almost a month short, Yelich showed that despite an injury, you can still come out on top.

In the running for MVP along with Yelich are 1B/OF Cody Bellinger, who recently won the Gold Glove for NL Right Field, and 2/3B Anthony Rendon, all three did participate in the 2019 All Star Game in Cleveland this year. Although all participating all stars, how do their stats play out in determining who the NL MVP should be?

To help determine who really should be winning the MVP title, I took the statistics from each player and compared them side by side. Although Yelich’s season ended in September and both Bellinger and Rendon played in October, Rendon even being a World Series winner, it seems that Yelich still came out on top in over half of the categories that were used in comparing statistics.

(All stats were found on Fangraphs)

WAR (dWAR/oWAR)
Christian Yelich: -3.9/ 65.2
Cody Bellinger: 3.4/55.3
Anthony Rendon: 4.2/46.5

Home-Runs/RBI’s
Christian Yelich: 44/97
Cody Bellinger: 47/ 115
Anthony Rendon: 34/126

Stolen Bases
Christian Yelich: 30
Cody Bellinger: 15
Anthony Rendon: 5

ISO (Power Hitting)
Christian Yelich: .342
Cody Bellinger: .324
Anthony Rendon: .279

AVG (Batting Average)
Christian Yelich: .329
Cody Bellinger: .305
Anthony Rendon: .319

OBP (On Base Percentage)
Christian Yelich: .429
Cody Bellinger: .406
Anthony Rendon: .412

SLG (Slugging Percentage)
Christian Yelich: .671
Cody Bellinger: .629
Anthony Rendon: .598

OPS (On-Base Plus Slugging)
Christian Yelich: 1.100
Cody Bellinger: 1.035
Anthony Rendon: 1.010

Although some could argue that Bellinger should win MVP due to his amazing defensive numbers and the fact that the Dodgers went into postseason and Yelich was done in September, it’s not like the Gold Glove where the award is just voted upon. The MVP voting process starts before the postseason, where the results aren’t announced until after the World Series. Yelich could very well go back-to-back, being the first in the National League since Albert Pujols went back-to-back in 2008 and 2009.

The winner will be announced November 14th, one day after the Manager of the Year award is presented. Brewers manager Craig Counsell is in the running, and has a good chance of winning due to his amazing month of September.