Third Baseman of the Year

Taking a look around the infield, we're here to introduce the George Brett and Mike Schmidt Awards.

George Brett Award Finalists:

1. Adrian Beltre .296/.331/.561/.379
2. Evan Longoria .244/.355/.495/.365
3. Alex Rodriguez .276/.362/.461/.361
Honorable Mention:

Adrian Beltre- But he only has good seasons when he is about to be a free agent.  That's the narrative, right?  All inall, Beltre had a good season.  He definitely had an all-star caliber season.  According to fWAR he put up 5.7.  He had a much better season in 2010 but still, it was a good season.  His OBP wasn't great, only .331 but still managed to put a respectable wOBA up.  He had the highest wOBA for third basemen (well minus Brett Lawrie, but he only had 171 plate appearances.  He finished first for third basemen in slugging percentage. His defense was still spectacular.

Evan Longoria- A sub-par season by his standards, but still finished 3rd in wOBA (4th if you count Michael Young).  He finished 2nd in slugging percentage.  He finished 4th among third basemen with more than 400 plate appearances in On-base percentage.  His defense was great, yet again.  He missed quite a few games because of an injury but still played more than Beltre (133 to 124).

Alex Rodriguez- Only played 99 games but put up respectable numbers during that time.   His slugging numbers were slightly down compared to other third basemen, as well as his own career. None of the top third  third basemen played the full season, so you can't discount Rodriguez on that reason alone. 

Voting: 1. Evan Longoria 2. Adrian Beltre 3. Alex Rodriguez

Mike Schmidt Awards Finalists:
1. Pablo Sandoval .315/.357/.552/.379
2. Aramis Ramirez .306/.361/.510/.373
3. Ryan Roberts .249/.341/.427/.338
Honorable Mention: Chase Headley .289/.374/.399/.344

Pablo Sandoval- led NL thirdbasemen in batting average, sluggin percentage, and wOBA.  He finished 3rd in On-base percentage.  He only played 117 games, though.  His defense was pretty good.

Aramis Ramirez- Third basemen in both leagues this year had down years.  Ramirez finished 2nd in batting average, on-base percentage, and wOBA.  He finished 3rd in slugging percentage.  His defense was getting a little bit worse, probably due to age. 

Ryan Roberts- He was a beneficiary because of his defense and baserunning that fangraphs give him credit for in their WAR calculations.  He also played more games so he got some extra points in his WAR calculations, as well.

Chase Headley- He led NL 3b in OBP which is my favorite offensive stat.

1. Pablo Sandoval 2. Aramis Ramirez 3. Ryan Roberts