(670 The Score) Back in 2012, the American League MVP race proved to be a topic of heated debate between the old-school minds of baseball and those who embrace analytics. It came at a time when the game was beginning to evolve.
Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera won the AL MVP award that season after capturing MLB's first Triple Crown (best batting average, most home runs, most RBIs in his league) in 45 years. He beat out Angels star Mike Trout, who posted a 10.1 WAR over 139 games in his second season in the big leagues.
Many new-age baseball minds believe Trout was robbed of the MVP that season, with his all-around game being being overlooked when weighed against Cabrera's historic Triple Crown feat and his counting stats. Cubs outfielder Ian Happ is a player who embraces analytics, but he's willing to draw the line in favor of Cabrera in this argument.
That's because Happ believes analytics don't properly capture the challenge of driving in runs, as he explained on the Bernstein & Rahimi Show on Thursday morning.
"If somebody wins the Triple Crown, they're automatically the MVP," Happ said. "There's no question. To lead the league in batting average, home runs and RBIs is near impossible. What metrics do not bring into play is how difficult it is and what a skill it is to drive in runs. Driving in runs is not luck. It is skill. It doesn't matter how many opportunities you get, how good your team is, driving in runs is hard and it's undervalued.
"The fact that Anthony Rizzo drives in 100 runs every year is not luck. It is a skill. It is very difficult to do and it should be valued far more than it is."
Happ notably led the Cubs in both WAR and RBIs in the abbreviated 2020 season.