Pete Crow-Armstrong wins National League MVP award after superb all-around season by Cubs center fielder
NEW YORK — Pete Crow-Armstrong wins National League MVP award after superb all-around season by Cubs center fielder.
The 24-year-old Crow-Armstrong, who agreed to a $115 million, six-year contract in March, is the first NL MVP from the Cubs since Kris Bryant in 2016.
Crow-Armstrong was selected by the New York Mets in the first round of the 2020 amateur draft. He was traded to Chicago in the Javier Báez deal in July 2021.
Crow-Armstrong had a breakout season last year, helping the Cubs qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2020. He hit .247 with 31 homers, 95 RBIs and 35 steals in 157 games.
Crow-Armstrong made significant strides at the plate in his fourth season, namely against left-handers. He hit .280 against lefties in 2026 after that number was .188 last year.
“I would say, like, what contributed to making myself a consistent quality at-bat and all that stuff is just, like, getting to know the strike zone just that much better,” Crow-Armstrong said before the start of the playoffs. “I definitely missed less pitches in the zone, in the heart of the zone, that I should be hitting this year.”
Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez won the AL MVP award in a unanimous vote on Thursday night after making a run at the Triple Crown.
Alvarez hit a career-best .316 with 42 homers and 106 RBIs for the AL West champions. He led the majors in batting average and finished in a tie for second in the AL in homers and second by himself in RBIs, trailing Pete Alonso's 43 homers and 113 RBIs for Baltimore.
Alvarez was Houston's primary designated hitter, but his offensive brilliance was enough to overcome his limited contributions on defense. The four-time All-Star also led the majors in walks (109), on-base percentage (.432) and slugging percentage (.601).
The 29-year-old Alvarez became the first AL MVP from Houston since Jose Altuve in 2017. He received all 30 first-place votes in balloting from the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Third baseman Junior Caminero, who batted .276 with 42 homers and 101 RBIs for Tampa Bay, was second, receiving 27 of 30 second-place votes. Kansas City shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. finished third.
Alvarez broke into the majors with Houston in 2019. He hit .313 with 27 homers and 78 RBIs in just 87 games, earning the AL Rookie of the Year award.
Alvarez was the ALCS MVP in 2021 and helped the Astros to the 2022 World Series championship. He is a .300 hitter with 212 homers and 599 RBIs in eight big league seasons.