The White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu wins 2020 season American League Most Valuable Player award on Thursday, November 12th, voted by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America . This will be first time for Abreu to win biggest player prize in Major League Baseball.
Abreu finished with 374 total points, including 21 first-place votes, eight second-place votes and one third-place vote. He is the fourth White Sox player to win MVP honors, joining Frank Thomas (1993-94), Dick Allen (’72) and Nellie Fox (’59). He’s the third Cuban-born player to win the MVP along with Zoilo Versalles (’65) and Jose Canseco (’88).
Abreu’s 60 RBIs over 60 games led the AL for a second consecutive season. He finished second with 19 home runs and fourth with a .317 batting average. He also ranked fifth with a .987 OPS and was the only AL player to rank in the Top 5 in hits (76, first), RBIs, slugging percentage (.617, first), extra-base hits (34, first), total bases (148, first), home runs, average and OPS.
“For me, it was about taking care of things that I could take care of. And having the support of the people that I love, the people that are around me, it was enough,” Abreu said. “It was enough to move forward and to be able to not pay attention to all those things. At the end of the day, what matters for me is that I live my life in peace with myself.”
After winning the AL Rookie of the Year Award in 2014, Abreu became the 28th player to win an MVP and ROY Award in his career (joining Fred Lynn and Ichiro Suzuki). It was a special night for a special player, one Abreu dedicated to his mother, Daysi, who has a special influence on his life.
“My mom. That’s the meaning of this award, my mom,” Abreu said. “She’s the biggest thing that ever happened to me, and she’s why I do every single thing every day. She’s my motivation. I respect who she is because it’s because of her that I am who I am. She’s super proud, even more prouder than me.”
2020 American League MVP Final Vote results :
| Player | Team | 1st(6th) Place Votes | 2nd(7th) Place Votes | 3rd(8th) Place Votes | 4th(9th) Place Votes | 5th(10th) Place Votes | Total Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| José Abreu | CWS | 21 | 8 | 1 | – | – | 374 |
| José Ramírez | CLE | 8 | 17 | 3 | 2 | – | 303 |
| DJ LeMahieu | NYY | 1 3(6th) | 5 – | 15 1(8th) | 3 – | 2 – | 230 |
| Shane Bieber | CLE | 1(6th) | 2(7th) | 4 1(8th) | 10 | 9 1(10th) | 173 |
| Mike Trout | LAA | – 7(6th) | – 3(7th) | 4 3(8th) | 10 1(9th) | 2 – | 172 |
| Nelson Cruz | MIN | – 6(6th) | – 7(7th) | 1 8(8th) | – 1(9th) | 6 – | 128 |
| Tim Anderson | CWS | – 8(6th) | – 5(7th) | 1 2(8th) | 3 4(9th) | 3 4(10th) | 125 |
| Brandon Lowe | TB | – – | – 3(7th) | – 9(8th) | 1 7(9th) | 7 2(10th) | 104 |
| Luke Voit | NYY | – 3(6th) | – 8(7th) | – 4(8th) | 1 8(9th) | – 3(10th) | 85 |
| Anthony Rendon | LAA | – 2(6th) | – 2(7th) | 1 1(8th) | – 4(9th) | – 5(10th) | 42 |
| Teoscar Hernández | TOR | – – | – – | – – | – 1(9th) | – 6(10th) | 8 |
| Alex Verdugo | BOS | – – | – – | – – | – – | 1 – | 6 |
| Liam Hendriks | OAK | – – | – – | – – | – 1(9th) | – 2(10th) | 4 |
| Hyun Jin Ryu | TOR | – – | – – | – 1(8th) | – – | – 1(10th) | 4 |
| George Springer | HOU | – – | – – | – – | – 2(9th) | – – | 4 |
| Byron Buxton | MIN | – – | – – | – – | – 1(9th) | – – | 2 |
| Xander Bogaerts | BOS | – – | – – | – – | – – | – 1 (10th) | 1 |
| David Fletcher | LAA | – – | – – | – – | – – | – 1 (10th) | 1 |
| Dallas Keuchel | CWS | – – | – – | – – | – – | – 1 (10th) | 1 |
| Kyle Lewis | SEA | – – | – – | – – | – – | – 1 (10th) | 1 |
| Salvador Perez | KC | – – | – – | – – | – – | – 1 (10th) | 1 |
| Eddie Rosario | MIN | – – | – – | – – | – – | – 1 (10th) | 1 |
