November 14, 2012

Internet Baseball Awards

National League

by Dave Pease

For full results of this year's IBA voting, look here. For the AL IBA writeup, look here. To see how Baseball Prospectus authors voted, look here.

Awards

• National League Most Valuable Player
• National League Cy Young
• National League Rookie of the Year
• National League Manager of the Year

National League Most Valuable Player

Buster Posey capped an altogether outstanding 2012 campaign with his first Internet Baseball Awards Most Valuable Player honors. The San Francisco Giants catcher led the league in WARP and TAv (min. 200 PA) while helping to take the Giants to a World Series title, despite the fact that he was coming back from a heinous-looking injury that made an indelible impression on anyone who saw it. He's a catcher, he's handling a star-studded pitching staff that was at its best when it mattered most, and he's the best hitter in the league. Maybe we shouldn't have been surprised by Buster Posey, but he was bar none the best player in the National League in 2012.

Posey is only the second catcher to win the IBA National League Most Valuable Player award. Mike Piazza won the NL MVP in 1996 and 1997.

Ryan Braun, last year's second-place finisher in the Internet Baseball Awards NL MVP race, finished second again this year. Sam Miller wondered how many votes he was going to lose recently.

 Rnk Name               1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9   10       B       P
  1. Buster Posey     391  102   44    9    2    0    0    1    1    0     550    6824
  2. Ryan Braun        99  176  135   59   21    4    3    4    1    2     504    4637
  3. Andrew McCutchen  40  143  147   97   43   16    8    3    0    3     500    4084
  4. Yadier Molina     31   76   88  104   57   30   11    5    5    4     411    3115
  5. David Wright       2    7   27   60  105   75   36   17   15    4     348    1961
  6. Chase Headley      1   15   33   78   93   47   30   19    9    8     333    1955
  7. Joey Votto         2   11   16   20   31   26   24   19   11   14     174     900
  8. R.A. Dickey        4    5   17   17   30   20   22   32   14    9     170     857
  9. Jason Heyward      1    1    4   11   13   23   30   28   11   14     136     565
 10. Carlos Beltran     3    7    9   13   24   12   10    7    8    6      99     555
 89 TOTAL             583  583  583  583  583  406  340  295  251  217    4424   30646

All Internet Baseball Awards National League Most Valuable Player results

National League Cy Young

Continuing the theme of larger-than-life 2012 stories, we go from Posey's injury to R.A. Dickey's incredible journey back from the pitching hinterlands with a dominant rubber-armed power-knuckle performance. Dickey paced the league in innings pitched in 2012, and that's always a good place to start. He won 20 games for a lousy Mets team, which doesn't hurt either. This was an easy first-place choice for Internet Baseball Awards voters, with Dickey netting a majority (52.5 percent) of first-place votes.

Internet Baseball Award 2011 Cy Young award winner and Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw was the second-place finisher. A pair of Washington Nationals, Gio Gonzalez and Stephen Strasburg, and Cincinnati Reds starter Johnny Cueto complete the Internet Baseball Awards Cy Young top five.

 Rnk Name                        1      2      3      4      5       B       P
  1. R.A. Dickey               302    122     60     23      8     515    4251
  2. Clayton Kershaw           137    150     88     53     32     460    3051
  3. Gio Gonzalez               49    134    121     93     40     437    2352
  4. Johnny Cueto               17     49    104     74     45     289    1300
  5. Stephen Strasburg          28     32     47     42     34     183     899
  6. Matt Cain                  10     19     43     51     53     176     654
  7. Craig Kimbrel              15     18     29     53     58     173     638
  8. Kris Medlen                 5     16     14     29     31      95     350
  9. Cliff Lee                   3     14     21     26     31      95     342
 10. Cole Hamels                 3      6      9     30     29      77     236
 42 TOTAL                      575    575    575    531    456    2712   14699

All Internet Baseball Awards National League Cy Young results

National League Rookie of the Year

Bryce Harper faced (and bested) big-league pitching at age 19. It's tough to argue with the voting results: Harper had two long, hellaciously hot streaks on his way to a 4.5 WARP, which paced National League rookie qualifiers in 2012.

Arizona Diamondbacks left-hander Wade Miley brings a lot to the table. He pitched nearly 200 innings, with a 3.33 ERA and 3.09 FIP, a strong showing for a rookie pitcher. Cincinnati Reds third baseman Todd Frazier hit 19 home runs and put up an above-average .284 TAv at the plate. Japanese import Norichika Aoki was a surprise standout for the Brewers in 2012—his .283 TAv was a point off of Frazier's, and he also stole 30 bases and played well defensively.

 Rnk Name                        1      2      3      4      5       B       P
  1. Bryce Harper              419     65     21      8      1     514    4775
  2. Wade Miley                 70    252     57     17      6     402    2806
  3. Todd Frazier               25     69    156     51     35     336    1701
  4. Norichika Aoki              6     46     93     85     29     259    1131
  5. Wilin Rosario               8     28     40     28     18     122     578
  6. Anthony Rizzo               5     24     31     29     24     113     484
  7. Mike Fiers                  0     13     36     30     32     111     393
  8. Zack Cozart                 1      9     25     18     28      81     280
  9. Yasmani Grandal             2      6     14     18     14      54     200
 10. Yonder Alonso               0      3     13     10      9      35     125
 62 TOTAL                      547    547    547    351    251    2243   13338

All Internet Baseball Awards National League Rookie of the Year results

National League Manager of the Year

Davey Johnson pushed the program up a year in Washington, and the Nationals had the best record in the National League. Johnson is generally regarded as a sabermetric favorite, but this is his first Internet Baseball Awards Manager of the Year award. Runner-up Mike Matheny went straight from the bench to the manager's office and led yet another late-peaking St. Louis Cardinals squad that punched above its weight in the playoffs.

 Rnk Name                        1      2      3       B       P
  1. Davey Johnson             382     69     15     466    2132
  2. Mike Matheny               65    137     91     293     827
  3. Bruce Bochy                53    140     90     283     775
  4. Dusty Baker                19     90     84     193     449
  5. Fredi Gonzalez              8     38     36      82     190
 17 TOTAL                      546    546    414    1506    4782

All Internet Baseball Awards National League Manager of the Year results

Dave Pease is an author of Baseball Prospectus. Follow @davepease
Click here to see Dave's other articles. You can contact Dave by clicking here