Colorado Rockies Roundtable: Who is the 2016 Team MVP?

Members of the Rox Pile team recently exchanged ideas about who should be the Colorado Rockies MVP for the 2016 season. There were plenty of choices.

With DJ LeMahieu finishing the season as the MLB leader in hitting, Nolan Arenado pacing MLB in RBI, and Charlie Blackmon setting new marks from the leadoff position, those were just some of the choices available to our writers.

So who did we pick as this year’s Colorado Rockies team MVP? Read on…

Trevor Irvine

For me, Nolan Arenado is the team’s MVP for 2016.

The team has had a disappointing September when the second Wild Card was on offer (10-16 record). However, the team could have the most wins in a season since 2010 with a good finish this weekend and this season’s overall success is mainly due to the efforts of Arenado.

He played in 160 out of 162 games, has hit .294 with 41 home runs and a new career-high 133 RBI. Arenado is only the third player in baseball history to drive in 130 or more runs in consecutive seasons at age 26 or younger (Chuck Klein and Jimmie Foxx are the others). He is also only the third Rockie ever to have multiple 40-homer, 130-RBI seasons (joining Andres Galarraga from 1996-97 and Todd Helton from 2000-01).

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His fielding has been largely spectacular and he is a lock to win the Gold Glove for third basemen once more. The one downside has been his fielding has fallen off in the second half of the season and he has 13 total errors, with the majority of them coming in recent weeks.

Rockies hitters comfortably led the National League in team batting average (.275) and RBI (805) and Arenado is a major reason for this success. He has become a team leader and he has become more vocal this season, which is positive progression in his confidence.

There are other Rockies who have had good years (Tyler Chatwood, LeMahieu, Trevor Story, Blackmon and Mark Reynolds until their injuries) but the most consistent and important player on the squad is Arenado.

Not only is he the team’s MVP, he should be counted in the NL MVP discussion. But what hurts him most is the team’s overall record and the fact he plays half his games at Coors Field (according to the voters). It’s wrong, but it is what it is.