MLB first half awards: Ohtani is a lock for AL MVP

The first half of the 2021 MLB season is coming to a close, which means it’s time to hand out some hardware! Here are my choices for baseball’s annual awards if the season stopped right now.

AL Cy Young: Carlos Rodon (Chicago White Sox)

This is wide-open, unlike the NL Cy Young race, but I landed on Rodon for a few reasons. After pitching just 42 1/3 innings over the last two seasons, Rodon has fanned 113 batters in 78 2/3 frames to this point in 2021. His 2.06 ERA and 0.90 WHIP are top-notch, and he’s a big reason why the White Sox lead the AL Central.

NL Cy Young: Jacob deGrom (New York Mets)

This is the safest bet of the bunch. The 33-year-old deGrom has been the best pitcher in baseball by any measure this season, with a 0.69 ERA and a 0.53 WHIP. With his stuff, it’s a wonder the Mets found ways to lose two of his early-season starts, and barring anything insane happening, he should be a cinch for his third Cy Young.

AL MVP: Shohei Ohtani (Los Angeles Angels)

I mentioned this in my Monday article. Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. makes a lot of sense and would win this award in most years. However, Ohtani would be an All-Star as either a pitcher or a hitter, and this is stuff we haven’t seen in our lifetimes. I simply can’t go another direction here.

NL MVP: Kyle Schwarber (Washington Nationals)

The peerless deGrom would make sense here as well, but for the sake of this article I’ll go another direction. Schwarber has been the hottest hitter in baseball over the past several weeks and has surged up the NL leaderboards in the power categories. The only thing wrong with Schwarber’s ascent was a criminally-bad tweet by MLB calling him the best leadoff hitter they’d ever seen, and as good as he’s been... no. Just no.

AL Rookie of the Year: Adolis Garcia (Texas Rangers)

Wander Franco may barge into consideration, but for now, this is Garcia’s race to lose. He’s bashed 20 homers in 68 games, with 55 RBI’s and an .867 OPS. Once an afterthought purchased from the St. Louis Cardinals, Garcia is making the most of his time with the Rangers and has put up some eye-popping numbers.

NL Rookie of the Year: Trevor Rogers (Miami Marlins)

The 6’5” southpaw has been a big part of Miami’s rotation, going 7-4 with a 2.08 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP. He’s also struck out more than a batter per inning and won the NL Rookie of the Month award in both April and May.