Breaking Down the NL MVP

First let me start with this, Jimmy Rollins is my favorite player in all of baseball. I would love for him to win the MVP today, but in all honesty Matt Holliday should win the award. Here’s some of the evidence.

OPS
Holiday - 1.012, 3rd in NL
Rollins - .875, 23rd in NL and 5th amongst the Phillies (behind Utley, Howard, Burrell & Rowand)

Runs Created
Holliday – 142.2, 1st in NL
Rollins – 133.4, 5th in NL

Runs created per 27 outs
Holliday – 8.51, 4th in NL
Rollins – 6.83, 19th in NL

Secondary Average
Holliday – .377, 15th in NL
Rollins - .352, 17th in NL

VORP
Holliday – 75.0, 4th in NL
Rollins – 66.1, 9th in NL

Win Shares
Holliday – 30, tied for 3rd
Rollins – 28, tied for 6th (along with Utley!)

Close and Late
Holliday - .295 / .373 / .562 /
OPS - .935, RC -18, RC27 -5.77
Rollins – .255 / .318 / .490 /
OPS - .808, RC – 16.2, RC27 – 5.61

Runners in Scoring Position 2 Outs
Holliday - .319 / .430 / .528 /
OPS- .958, RC – 16.9, RC27 9.32
Rollins – .239 / .302 / .534 /
OPS - .836, RC – 15.5, RC27, 6.14


I think the two most striking of these has to be the 1.68 Runs Created per 27outs difference, and the win shares since WS takes into account defense.
Speaking of defense, Holliday led all NL left fielders in Zone Rating with .913, he was second in Fielding Percentage with .990 and was 5th in range factor with 1.97, which pretty much debunks anyone who says he is a poor fielder at his position.
Rollins was 6th amongst NL short stops in Zone Rating with .824, was 3rd in Fielding Percentage with .985, and was 6th in Range Factor with 4.41.

Holliday was probably the best defensive left fielder in the NL last year, maybe Eric Burns had him beat but he’s the only one that could contend there. Rollins was maybe the 3rd or 4th best defensive short stop in the NL behind Troy Tulowitzki, Omar Vizquel and maybe Khalil Greene. Short is the tougher position to play, but I don’t think it makes up for the offensive impact that Holliday had this season.