Shohei Ohtani, Randy Arozarena, Robbie Ray, more: Ben Verlander picks the MLB awards
By Ben Verlander
FOX Sports MLB Analyst
The 2021 MLB season is behind us, but there’s one more piece of business to take care of before we fully close the book.
It’s awards season! The Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year, Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards will be announced in the coming days, with the three finalists for each award having been identified a week ago.
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Ben Verlander makes his predictions for the AL and NL Rookie of the Year, Cy Young and MVP awards, which will be released this week.
Here are my picks for who should win each of the four awards in the National League and American League. Let's do this.
Rookie of the Year
Announcement: Monday
National League: Jonathan India
Trevor Rogers of the Miami Marlins and Dylan Carlson of the St. Louis Cardinals join Reds second baseman Jonathan India as finalists for this award.
In my opinion, India ran away with this one in the second half of the season. He not only played solid defense at a premier position but also had a great season at the plate, hitting .269 with 21 home runs and 69 runs batted in.
Rogers was great this year for the Marlins (2.64 ERA in 25 starts), but unfortunately, an injury prevented him from accumulating the innings needed to win.
In the end, it’s the beautiful, luscious locks that win it for Jonathan India.
American League: Randy Arozarena
You heard that right: The postseason hero we all fell in love with in 2020 is eligible to win Rookie of the Year for the 2021 season.
And he's not just eligible — Arozarena should win.
The other finalists are Arozarena's Rays teammate Wander Franco and Houston Astros pitcher Luis Garcia.
I think that young phenom Franco (.288/.347/.463) had the more impressive season, but he played in only 70 of the Rays' 166 games.
Arozarena, meanwhile, hit .274 on the season with 20 home runs and 69 runs batted in, and he stole 20 bases in 141 games, leading his team to an AL East title.
Manager of the Year
Announcement: Tuesday
National League: Gabe Kapler
Kapler is joined by Craig Counsell of the Brewers and Mike Shildt of the Cardinals as finalists, and I think the Giants' skipper will take home the hardware.
The Giants were not expected to contend in the NL West this season, and they ended up being the best team in baseball in the regular season, finishing with 107 wins.
The Brewers and Cardinals were both impressive, but to me, this award is a no-brainer.
American League: Scott Servais
This is certainly the tighter race, with Servais of the Mariners and Kevin Cash of the Rays being neck and neck, in my opinion. Dusty Baker is the third finalist, but I don't see him winning this one.
Cash won the award last year — and deservedly so. But this time, I'm picking Servais because he did more with less.
What the Mariners accomplished in a season in which they weren’t expected to compete was remarkable. They were in it until the final weekend of the season, and wow, were they fun.
The knock on Servais' team this season was that its -51 run differential wasn’t very good. Well, Servais responded that Seattle's "fun differential" was the difference-maker, which resulted in Baseball Reference actually adding a "fun differential" stat for the Mariners.
Cy Young Award
Announcement: Wednesday
National League: Corbin Burnes
The other finalists are Max Scherzer of the Nationals/Dodgers and Zack Wheeler of the Philadelphia Phillies, but I think it’ll be the Brewers' standout who takes home the trophy.
Burnes was 11-5 this season, with a 2.43 ERA and a 0.94 WHIP. To start the season, he broke the record for consecutive strikeouts without a walk.
I think this one was decided at the very end of the campaign. Scherzer made a strong push, but his last couple of outings weren’t great, and I think that swung the voting in Burnes' favor.
American League: Robbie Ray
Ray's second half both propelled him into the Cy Young finalist conversation and, I think, made him the front-runner to win the award.
Gerrit Cole and Lance Lynn are the other two finalists, and until the final month of the season, I thought Cole was the favorite. Then he fell off while Ray stayed strong, finishing 13-7 with a 2.84 ERA and 248 strikeouts.
Already set to make a lot of money as he heads into free agency, Ray will earn even more with a Cy Young Award on his résumé.
Most Valuable Player
Announcement: Thursday
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Narrated by Ben Verlander, "The Race: Quest for Baseball's MVP Title" chronicles one of the most exciting MVP races in baseball history, capturing the season’s critical moments on and off the field and showcasing some of the sport’s brightest young stars.
National League: Bryce Harper
Fernando Tatis Jr., Juan Soto and Harper are the three finalists for the NL's top honor of the season.
This was Tatis’ award to lose for much of the year, but then he dealt with some injuries and struggles, and Harper got hot at just the right time.
The Phillies' slugger hit .309 on the season, with 35 homers, and he finished with the highest OPS in baseball, at 1.044.
In the end, Harper won this award with an absolutely incredible second half, hitting .338 and 20 of his 35 homers after the break, with a whopping 1.188 OPS.
American League: Shohei Ohtani
That’s right! My friend Ohtani will be taking home the AL MVP Award.
The two other finalists are both Blue Jays: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Marcus Semien. Unfortunately for them, 2021 was the wrong year to try to win the AL MVP award.
What we witnessed from Shohei this year was, in my opinion, the greatest individual season of all time. He broke countless records and was the subject of Babe Ruth comparisons all summer.
As a hitter, he smashed 46 home runs, drove in 100 runs and scored more than 100 as well. As a pitcher, he was 9-2 with a 3.18 ERA and the most unhittable pitch in baseball, his splitter, which had the lowest batting average against of any pitch this season.
Ohtani was an All-Star as a hitter and an All-Star as a pitcher, and he even competed in the Home Run Derby. Years from now, we'll be telling younger generations that we were able to watch Ohtani in the most incredible baseball season of all time.
I expect this award to be unanimous.
Ben Verlander is an MLB Analyst for FOX Sports and the host of the "Flippin' Bats" podcast. Born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, Verlander was an All-American at Old Dominion University before he joined his brother, Justin, in Detroit as a 14th-round pick of the Tigers in 2013. He spent five years in the Tigers organization. Follow him on Twitter @Verly32.