Angels: There is an MVP candidate in Anaheim and it’s not Mike Trout

Since 2012, baseball fans have expected Mike Trout to always be in the running for AL MVP. However, this season, the Angels have a different candidate.

When Mike Trout tore a ligament in his thumb sliding into a base in late May, many Angel fans may have lost hope. The team was 26-27 at this point and could not afford to lose the best player in baseball for what would be six weeks. However, the Angels have gone 43-38 since then, inserting themselves in the AL Wild Card race.

A big spoke on the Angels’ wheel this season has come from an unexpected MVP candidate. This unexpected performance is coming from two-time Gold Glove and one-time Platinum Glove winner Andrelton Simmons.

The Angels acquired Simmons via trade back in November of 2015. Left-handed pitcher  Sean Newcomb, the top prospect for the Angels at the time, was sent to Atlanta along with pitcher Chris Ellis. Thus far, Newcomb has not worked out with the Braves, as he has a 2-7 record with a 4.36 ERA in 14 games started.

However, for the Angels, Simmons has more than panned out. Coming in as the successor to Erick Aybar, the trade for Simmons was a defensively minded move. The Angels were already a solid defensive team and Simmons propelled them to be the fourth best defensive team in baseball in 2016; according to FanGraphs.

Simmons’ bat was never really a factor. In his four-year career in Atlanta, the shortstop had a .256/.313/.378 slash line. From 2013-2015 Simmons had the fifth best WAR of shortstops (with 1500 plate appearances) despite having the third worst offensive rating. Of the 112 batters with 1500 PA’s in the same time frame, Simmons ranked 109th in OPS.

However, that ship has sailed. Simmons has thrived in Southern California. His batting average is 29 points higher than it was in Atlanta and his OPS has jumped from .666 to .741. This season, in particular, Simmons is putting together an MVP performance.

The defensive wizard is the third best player, in terms of WAR, in the American League. Simmons trails just Jose Altuve and Aaron Judge and will likely surpass Judge if his struggles continue. With a .288 batting average, Simmons is on pace to hit 17 home runs, drive in 75 RBIs and steal 23 bases.

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Simmons brings something extremely valuable to the table, the perfect mix of hitting and fielding. Very rarely do we see a fielder as good as Simmons also be one of the best hitters in the league. While there certainly is better at the plate, Simmons is more than holding his own this season.

However, ultimately, this will not be enough for Simmons to win the award. Fielding is not as appreciated in today’s MLB as it was before. Offense is still the most looked at factor, despite the Sabermetrics movement. Because of this, Simmons will get snubbed.

It is a shame that this will likely happen, but voters will overlook Simmons for more high-profile bats. Granted, Simmons never would win over Jose Altuve and his historic season, but his name should be thrown in the hat.

Next: The Angels can be dangerous in the playoffs

At the end of the day, the Angels number one goal is to shock the world and make a deep playoff push. With two MVP caliber players in Mike Trout and Andrelton Simmons, that path becomes much easier.