Editor's observe: SI highlights the highest candidates in a crowded race for the Nationwide League MVP award. Try our primers on Lorenzo Cain, Javy Baez, Jacob deGrom and Freddie Freeman.
There's little question that Milwaukee's Christian Yelich has regarded higher than ever this season. His 156 OPS+ is greater than twenty factors above his earlier excessive. His .576 slugging proportion is greater than a hundred factors above his profession common. He was named an All-Star for the primary time. He's by no means hit so many line drives or so few floor balls. Practically a 3rd of his flyballs turned house runs — or greater than twice as many as final 12 months. Yelich is swinging greater than ever and was rewarded along with his first annual batting common above .300.
So Yelich was undoubtedly at his finest. However it was sufficient to make him occur and the very best? At the very least WAR will say sure. Each FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus' variations of the metric checklist him as the very best place participant within the Nationwide League. (Baseball-Reference has him second, behind teammate Lorenzo Cain.) However WAR begins arguments higher than it ends them, so let's transfer on. Yelich is the one hitter within the league with an OPS+ over 150 and ranks first in each batting common and slugging proportion.
It additionally excels in Statcast's fancy metrics. His exit velocity of 92.1 mph is increased than all however two different batters within the NL, and he’s one among solely two batters with greater than half of his batted balls categorised as “exhausting hits”. Or, flip your consideration to narrative stats like Win Added and Base Wins Added — which don't essentially predict or point out precise expertise, however supply some compelling details about how a lot a participant has achieved to enhance his group's possibilities. when he involves the plate — and also you'll see he's achieved extra in that division than another participant right here. Yelich's 5.1 WPA is the very best within the league, a measure of how a lot his bat has improved his membership's probability to win. What precisely does it seem like? With two outs and males on, there was nobody higher within the NL. Yelich has a whopping 1.273 OPS in these conditions.
So you’ll be able to describe Yelich's offensive prowess with all types of numbers; simply select. In the meantime, his protection is probably not significantly flashy, however he's confirmed that he can play each place within the subject. And actually, whenever you have been so clearly the very best scorer within the league – what extra do you want? (In case you simply need to ask for slightly extra, Yelich additionally has 21 stolen bases.)
No different candidate has been constantly nearly as good as Yelich. That doesn't make him excellent candidate; he doesn't have the defensive aptitude of Javier Baez, or the red-hot working of Matt Carpenter, or…any of Jacob deGrom. However it makes him the very best candidate. NL has no extra skillful hitter. Yelich is best than he's ever been, and he simply occurs to be higher than everybody else.
