2012 American League Most Valuable Player Award

From BR Bullpen

The winner of the 2012 American League Most Valuable Player Award was Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers.

There was quite a debate before the vote between "traditionalists", who saw Cabrera's winning of the Triple Crown - the first since 1967 as a historical achievement - and the more sabermetrically-oriented writers who considered that Mike Trout, whose WAR was much higher, should have been a clear winner. The traditionalists won out this time.

Award Voting[edit]

† indicates playoff team

Player Team Points AVG OBP SLG HR RBI W - L SV SO ERA 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Miguel Cabrera Detroit Tigers † 362 .330 .393 .606 44 139 Did not pitch 22 6 - - - - - - - -
Mike Trout Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 281 .326 .399 .564 30 83 Did not pitch 6 21 1 - - - - - - -
Adrian Beltre Texas Rangers † 210 .321 .359 .561 36 102 Did not pitch - 1 16 9 1 - 1 - - -
Robinson Cano New York Yankees † 149 .313 .379 .550 33 94 Did not pitch - - 6 10 1 1 3 2 1 -
Josh Hamilton Texas Rangers † 127 .285 .354 .577 43 128 Did not pitch - - - 3 6 5 8 2 3 1
Adam Jones Baltimore Orioles † 124 .287 .334 .505 32 82 Did not pitch - - 1 2 8 5 4 3 2 -
Derek Jeter New York Yankees † 73 .316 .362 .429 15 58 Did not pitch - - 2 1 4 1 3 2 1 1
Justin Verlander Detroit Tigers † 58 .000 .000 .000 0 0 17 - 8 0 239 2.64 - - - 2 3 3 2 - 1 1
Prince Fielder Detroit Tigers † 56 .313 .412 .528 30 108 Did not pitch - - - - 1 5 1 2 5 5
Yoenis Cespedes Oakland Athletics † 41 .292 .356 .505 23 82 Did not pitch - - - - 1 2 2 3 2 4
Edwin Encarnacion Toronto Blue Jays 33 .280 .384 .557 42 110 Did not pitch - - - - 2 - - 5 - 6
David Price Tampa Bay Rays 26 .000 .000 .000 0 0 20 - 5 0 205 2.56 - - 1 - - 3 - 1 - -
Fernando Rodney Tampa Bay Rays 24 Did not bat 2 - 2 48 76 0.60 - - - - - - 1 5 2 1
Jim Johnson Baltimore Orioles † 24 Did not bat 2 - 1 51 41 2.49 - - 1 1 - - 1 1 - -
Alex Rios Chicago White Sox 17 .304 .334 .516 25 91 Did not pitch - - - - 1 - - - 5 1
Josh Reddick Oakland Athletics † 14 .242 .305 .463 32 85 Did not pitch - - - - - 2 - - 1 2
Albert Pujols Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 8 .285 .343 .516 30 105 Did not pitch - - - - - 1 - - 1 1
Ben Zobrist Tampa Bay Rays 7 .270 .377 .471 20 74 Did not pitch - - - - - - 1 - 1 1
Joe Mauer Minnesota Twins 6 .319 .416 .446 10 85 Did not pitch - - - - - - - 1 - 3
Rafael Soriano New York Yankees † 5 Did not bat 2 - 1 42 69 2.26 - - - - - - - 1 1 -
Matt Wieters Baltimore Orioles † 4 .249 .329 .435 23 83 Did not pitch - - - - - - 1 - - -
Felix Hernandez Seattle Mariners 2 .333 .333 .667 0 2 13 - 9 0 223 3.06 - - - - - - - - 1 -
Jered Weaver Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 2 .500 .667 .500 0 0 20 - 5 0 142 2.81 - - - - - - - - 1 -
Raul Ibanez New York Yankees † 1 .240 .308 .453 19 62 Did not pitch - - - - - - - - - 1


Preceded by
2011 		Most Valuable Player Award
National
2012 		Succeeded by
2013

Further Reading[edit]

  • Peter B. Gregg: "The Struggle to Define 'Valuable': Tradition vs. Sabermetrics in the 2012 AL MVP Race", Baseball Research Journal, SABR, Volume 46, Number 2 (Fall 2017), pp. 116-124.

Related Sites[edit]

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