Dominican David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox is leading in the Major League Baseball online poll on who should win the American League’s most valuable player. David Ortiz’s stats are: .301, 41 HR, 139 RBIs. And of his 175 hits, 91 have been for extra bases. In an online commentary, MLB site indicates that “Ortiz has turned his act with Ramirez into the best 3-4 combo in the Majors, and one of the best of all time.”
Fellow Dominican Vladimir Guerrero of the Anaheim Angels is the runner up for the prestigious award. His 2004 stats: .337, 39 HR, 126 RBIs, 124 runs. Furthermore, the MLB site indicates that he was successful on 15 of 18 steal attempts and ridiculed offseason concerns about his durability by playing in 156 games and having 612 at-bats. He is the reason why, despite the angels having been down to three starters, the team was in the first place.
Interestingly, the third leading candidate for the Most Valuable Player of the American League is yet another Dominican, David Ortiz’s teammate, Manny Ramirez, of the Boston Red Sox. His 2004 stats: .308, 43 HR and 130 RBIs, with 44 doubles and 108 runs. He hit .300-plus for the ninth time in 10 seasons. The exception was in 1998, when he hit “only” .294 but compensated with his career-high 45 homers, according to the MLB.com site. As for Ramirez, he is a candidate because “as a top-10 MVP finisher six straight seasons but never really a serious threat, Ramirez deserves to break through this year.”
Other contenders for the award are Gary Sheffield(Yankees) and Michael Young (Rangers).