Seven Dominicans have won the MVP award, but two of them have achieved it three times: Albert Pujols and Alex Rodríguez.
Alex won the award in 2003, 2005 and 2007, while Pujols 2005, 2008 and 2009. What does this mean? It has been 12 seasons since any native of Quisqueya has won this important award. We haven’t won a Cy Young either since Bartolo Colón 2005, or Novato 2010.
Other winners have been George Bell in 1987, Sammy Sosa 1998, Miguel Tejada 2002 and Vladimir Guerrero 2004.
Last year, the Dominican players lost a great opportunity for the MVP with Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who had an excellent campaign of 48 home runs and 111 RBIs, in addition to a good batting average of .311. Vladimir was the leader in OBP, slugging and OPS.
But the US press decided that Japan’s Shohei Ohtani was a phenomenon due to his double status as batter and pitcher and they unanimously awarded him the MVP. In pitching, Ohtani was 9-2 and 3:18 with 23 starts and 130 innings. He in batting average of .257, 46 home runs, 100 RBIs, 26 steals and OBP of .372.
For this year there was a good group to seek the prize with Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado and Juan Soto in the National, and in the American with Vladimir Jr.
In the National, we have a loss in Soto’s offense, Tatis was injured and hasn’t played, and Machado is still on the globe. Vladimir will not have the same year as 2021 and he has strong competition from Ohtani himself and the Yankees’ Aaron Judge.
INJUSTICE: Manny Ramírez has been the hardest hit among the MVP candidates, possibly in the entire history of the majors. That happened in 1999 when, playing for the Cleveland Indians, he hit .333 with 44 home runs and 165 RBIs (lead). He had a .442 OBP, and was a .663 slugger leader with a 1,105 OPS.
Those are MVP numbers without a doubt, but voters leaned toward Puerto Rican catcher Iván Rodriguez, from Texas, with a .332-35-113, .356 OBP, 558 slugging percentage and 914 OPS.
That was a gross injustice and Manny didn’t get another chance. He had 12 30+ homer seasons, 5 40+ and 12 100+ RBIs. What do you think?
A LITTLE MORE: When George Bell won the 1987 MVP he was playing left field for the Toronto Blue Jays. The following year, he put together a tremendous rebú on the team… Why? Manager Jimy Williams decided that Bell was a bad defense and moved him to the DH role, the Dominican objected and they had a great matchup all spring. Williams eventually won and Bell was designated. And read what happened on the first day of that 1988 season: Bell hit three home runs against the Kansas City Royals.
In training in Dunedin, Florida, the fight was so strong that in mid-March Bell left the team hotel and moved to a smaller hotel precisely where a group of journalists invited by Epy Guerrero super scout of the Blue Jays were. (We were the undersigned, Tomás Troncoso, Roosevelt Comarazamy and Bienvenido Rojas).
WEALTHY: Manny Ramírez retired after almost 19 years in the Major Leagues. He played for Cleveland, his first team, Boston, Dodgers, White Sox and Tampa Bay. He amassed a huge fortune of US$206 million and must be doing very well financially. He is in the Hall of Fame ballot process and has been in for six years now. The best percentage of him has been in 2022 with 28.9%. Manny was suspended twice for use of steroids or prohibited substances.
