Milwaukee Brewers: Christian Yelich vs Javier Baez in MVP race

The Milwaukee Brewers’ season is coming to an end as is the NL MVP. Two players are leading, but only one will win. Christian Yelich or Javier Baez

There has been a heated debate on social media this September on whether the MVP of the National League should be Christian Yelich of the Milwaukee Brewers or Javier Baez of the Chicago Cubs.

It is a close call to see who is the true MVP.  Both players have had exceptional seasons. Both are worthy of the award, but the main goal of this article is to try to show who is the best in the National League. This definitely won’t stop the arguments, but it’s worth a try. Let’s get to it.

Batting(Regular Stats)        Yelich                                             Baez

Batting Average                      .321                                               .292

Home Runs                                32                                                   34

Runs Batted In                          98                                                 110

On Base Percentage              .391                                               .327

Slugging Percentage             .576                                                .566

OPS(On Base+Slugging)       .967                                                .893

Total Bases                                321                                                327

Strikeouts                                  130                                                158

With the traditional stats, a lot of the stats are now turning to Yelich. With Baez’s free-swinging game, Yelich obviously has the better on-base percentage. But they both have plus averages and, as Baez’s power and production shows,  he’s ahead in home runs and RBIs. And with the era today, strikeouts supposedly don’t matter, but Baez has more by a wide margin. Also with the era today, voters turn to sabermetrics. Here’s what it looks like:

Sabermetrics                                                                                       Yelich                           Baez

fWAR(Wins Above Replacement according to Fangraphs)     6.1                                5.3

bWAR(Wins Above Replacement from Baseball Reference)  6.4                                6.1

wOBA(Weighted on Base Average/Players contribution)      .410                             .372

BABIP (Batting Average w/ Balls in Play)                                    .372                              .345

wRC+ (Weighted Runs Created/Production)                              158                                134

Yelich will be getting a lot of votes from the sabermetric specialists. He leads in fWAR and bWAR, which judges everything from hitting to baserunning to fielding. He leads in wOBA by a lot, which is the ultimate hitting statistic in sabermetrics. And he leads in wRC+ which shows how much he helps runners score. With this, Yelich has this by a landslide.

Batting Winner: Christian Yelich

Fielding                                                                          Yelich                                       Baez

Fielding Percentage                                                     .988                                         .978

Errors                                                                                  3                                              14

DRS (Defensive Runs Saved)                                       1                                                9

UZR (Fielding Comparison to Average player)      0.2                                            2.6

Baez has this part of the MVP. And it’s not close. The one thing that he has is the versatility. It may not sound like a big deal, but it is. The ability to do what he’s doing when playing three positions is something special. Yelich is doing this too, but it’s a whole different world in the infield. Baez does have more errors than Yelich, but the frequency of balls hit to infielders is way higher compared to the outfield. “El Mago” wins defense.

Defense: Javier Baez

Baserunning                                                        Yelich                                          Baez

Stolen Bases                                                            21                                               21

Caught Stealing                                                        4                                                  9

BsR (Baserunning Efficiency)                            5.3                                              3.8

UBR(Ultimate Base Running)                            4.3                                              3.2

This may surprise some people, but it’s true. Baez may be the more skilled baserunner, but Yelich is the most efficient. With having the same amount of stolen bases as Baez, and being caught less plays a huge factor when it comes to BsR. And with UBR, this excludes stolen bases, so when it comes to taking that extra base and taking risks on the base paths, Yelich is better. Sorry Cubs fans.

Baserunning: Christian Yelich

Notable Achievements

Christian Yelich

• 3x Player of the Week
• Hit for the cycle twice
• NL All-Star
• 1 Multi Home Run Game
• 47 Multi Hit Games

Javier Baez

• NL All Star Starter
• 3 Multi Home Runs Games
• 1x Player of the Week
• 48 Multi Hit Games

Overview

This race is closer than ever. Javy Baez does have the fielding stats with versatility, has the production with a high-quality average, and is an above average base runner. But Yelich should win the award. No one can fill the shoes of Yelich if he’s out of the lineup. Every single game he amazes you.

With that being said…