MVP candidate Votto praises BBWAA for their awards voting process
Joey Votto was named as one of three finalists in the National League for the MVP award on Monday, and while picking a winner can be extremely hard, the Cincinnati Reds first baseman believes the voters make the decision the right way.
"I'm going to sound an awful lot like I'm stroking people right now, but I've always felt like the voters are the savviest and most objective people in baseball," Votto said to C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
The 34-year-old was selected along with Giancarlo Stanton of the Miami Marlins and Paul Goldschmidt of the Arizona Diamondbacks as finalists in what couldn't have been an easy decision, considering the seasons put together by Nolan Arenado and Charlie Blackmon of the Colorado Rockies, and Anthony Rendon of the Washington Nationals.
| PLAYER | AB | H | HR | RBI | AVG | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joey Votto | 559 | 179 | 36 | 100 | .320 | 1.032 |
| Giancarlo Stanton | 597 | 168 | 59 | 132 | .281 | 1.007 |
| Paul Goldschmidt | 558 | 166 | 36 | 120 | .297 | .966 |
| Charlie Blackmon | 644 | 213 | 37 | 104 | .331 | 1.000 |
| Nolan Arenado | 606 | 187 | 37 | 130 | .309 | .959 |
| Anthony Rendon | 508 | 153 | 25 | 100 | .301 | .937 |
Although Arenado, Blackmon, and Rendon appear to be snubs in the category, Votto mentioned his belief that the Baseball Writers' Association of America - who are responsible for voting on the awards - are in the best position to make the decisions.
"A lot of the other awards are voted amongst people in their own little echochamber and I feel like the writers because there's so much distance and so many different opinions and because there's so many schools of thought and also because there's so many voters, I feel like typically the voting done by the Baseball Writers' Association is the most objective, the most researched and I think the points systems helps."
Votto won the NL MVP in 2010 and finished third in 2015.