It's that time again!
SB Nation's baseball blogs are counting on you to choose the winners of various MLB awards ranging from somewhat conventional to WHAAAAAT. The first award up for grabs is the MLB Hitter of the Year, for which there are several good nominees and one that completely jumps off the page.
The Colorado Rockies, of course, had one or two players who could stake at least somewhat of a claim to this award. Had Carlos Gonzalez hit in April in May like he did from June 1 through the end of the season, there aren't many offensive awards for which he wouldn't be the leading candidate. But baseball is played for six full months during the regular season, and CarGo's total numbers (.271/.325/.540, 40 home runs) don't quite stack up to some of the other players that will be mentioned here.
One of those players is Gonzalez's teammate, Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado. The 24-year-old, three-time Gold Glove winner had a great season at the plate, hitting .287/.323/.575 while leading the National League in homers (42, tied with another player on this list) and runs batted in (130).
As good as Arenado was -- and we'll have him as a voting option below because this is a Rockies site, dammit -- he really doesn't even stack up to many of the other candidates, especially Bryce Harper. The Washington Nationals' star outfielder finished tied with Arenado in homers while posting an unreal .330/.460/.649 batting line. Harper was all alone at the top of the league in on-base percentage, slugging, runs scored and OPS+. And if you like WAR, Harper didn't disappoint there either, finishing with 9.9 per Baseball-Reference's model.
The other nominees:
Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels | .299/.402/.590, 41 HR
Josh Donaldson, Toronto Blue Jays | .297/.371/.568, 41 HR
Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds | .314/.459/.541, 29 HR (and 143 BB!)
Paul Goldschmidt, Arizona Diamondbacks | .321/.435/.570, 33 HR
Vote below, and do us a solid and leave your nominees for Pitcher of the Year in the comments.