AL First Half Awards

After handing out awards for the top first half performers in the National League, Bleeding Sports does the same for the American League.

Biggest Surprise: Ben Zobrist, Rays

Zobrist emerged as valuable utility man for Tampa Bay last season playing all over the field during the franchise’s unbelievable run to the World Series. This season the Rays haven’t been able to take Zobrist out of the lineup and have found him a steady position at 2B filling in for injured Akinori Iwamura. Zobrist is now a fixture in the five spot of the Rays’ lineup while finishing the first half 2nd in slugging and OPS while on pace to hit over 30 home runs for the season.

Biggest Disappointment: Joba Chamberlain, Yankees

There have been a quite a few household names in the AL that haven’t lived up to expectations this season. It took Boston slugger over a month to hit his first home run, but he was showing signs of decline at the end of last season so many observers saw it coming. Alex Rodriguez continues to disappoint on and off the field between steroid admissions, hip injuries, and tabloid fodder all while opposing pitchers no longer fear pitching to him. Arod’s Yankee teammate, Joba Chamberlain, has been a whole lot of hype with little to show for it as a starting pitcher. Yankee fan sure expected for than four victories in the first half while being among the top ten in the league in walks allowed.

Breakout Performer: Zack Grienke, Royals

Grienke began the season by putting together a historic string of pitching performances. Grienke was a staggering 8-1 with a 0.84 ERA on May 26th and his ERA didn’t surpass 1.00 until the last day of May. Grienke cooled off a bit for the remainder of the first half, but still leads the league ERA and has become a household name in baseball. He has been the best comeback in story this season after overcoming past battles with depression.

Cy Young: Josh Beckett, Red Sox

The complete antithesis of Grienke this year, Beckett started the year extremely slow. For the last two months, however, Beckett has been a ball of fire. He finished the first half tied for the league lead in victories with an 11-3 record and 3.35 ERA while reminding everyone in baseball that he’s still the best pitcher on the AL’s best team.

AL MVP: Joe Mauer, Twins

Picking an AL MVP is a tough one because nobody has really stood out, but nobody could argue against Minnesota’s All-World catcher. Despite missing the first month of the season, Mauer didn’t miss a beat and put up MVP numbers in the first half. Mauer finished the first half batting a league leading .373 with 15 HRs and 49 RBIs and also leads the AL in slugging and OPS.