Millville resident Mike Trout was got either a first- or second-place vote for American League MVP on 27 of the 28 ballots from the Baseball Writers Association of America.
Trout, a rookie center fielder for the Los Angeles Angels, finished second to Detroit's Miguel Cabrera in the voting, which was announced last week.
One voter, Sheldon Ocker of the Akron Beacon Journal, had Trout third on his ballot behind Cabrera and Texas' Adrian Beltre.
In an email to The Press of Atlantic City, Ocker explained his vote:
"The reasons are rather simple," Ocker said. "Their numbers are pretty close. Beltre has a significant edge in RBI and Trout is way ahead in steals. Both are among the best at their positions defensively.
"The difference: The Rangers made the playoffs, the Angels didn't, (and) the last two months of the season, when Texas was trying to catch Oakland and (Los Angeles) was trying to catch the Rangers, Beltre batted almost .340 with 40-some RBI; Trout's batting average was around .287 with about 20 RBI and fewer home runs than Beltre."
Beltre hit .321 with 36 homers, 102 RBIs, 95 runs scored and one stolen bases. Trout hit .326 with 30 homers, 83 RBIs, 129 runs scored and 49 stolen bases.
Texas finished the regular season 93-69, one game behind Oakland (94-68) and four ahead of Los Angeles (89-73).
Indeed, Beltre hit .337 with 11 homers, 19 RBIs and 19 runs scored in September. In that month, Trout hit .257 with five homers, six RBIs and 21 runs scored.
