Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers had a magnificent season in 2011, and has been awarded the National League Most Valuable Player Award by the baseball writers of SB Nation. Kemp led the league in home runs (39), RBI (126), runs scored (115), total bases (353), and adjusted OPS+ (171), and finished tied for second in stolen bases (40).
Kemp captured 21 of 28 first-place votes and five second-place votes, beating Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers, who garnered seven first-place tallies and 19 second-place votes. Joey Votto of the Cincinnati Reds, winner of the 2010 SB Nation NL MVP, finished third this season.
Kemp was the first major league player to finish in the top two in the league in both home runs and stolen bases since Hank Aaron in 1963. Kemp won the Hank Aaron Award this season, awarded annually to the top offensive player in each league.
The Dodgers had a so-so season on the field, finishing 82-79, but ended up with both major individual awards from SB Nation. Earlier in the week, Clayton Kershaw was the co-winner of the SB Nation NL Cy Young Award, along with Roy Halladay of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Here are the vote totals from the 28 SB Nation baseball writers who submitted National League ballots:
| Rank | Name | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matt Kemp | 21 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 353 | ||||||
| 2 | Ryan Braun | 7 | 19 | 2 | 285 | |||||||
| 3 | Joey Votto | 8 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 176 | |||||
| 4 | Justin Upton | 1 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 140 | ||
| 5 | Prince Fielder | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 119 | |
| 6 | Troy Tulowitzki | 3 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 91 | |||
| 7 | Jose Reyes | 1 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 86 | |||
| 8 | Roy Halladay | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 85 | |||
| 9 | Clayton Kershaw | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 56 | |||
| 10 | Albert Pujols | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 51 | |||
| 11 | Lance Berkman | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 44 | ||||
| 12 | Shane Victorino | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 41 | |||
| 13 | Cliff Lee | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 33 | ||||||
| 14 | Andrew McCutchen | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 26 | |||||
| 15 | Pablo Sandoval | 2 | 1 | 1 | 19 | |||||||
| 16 | Brandon Phillips | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 17 | ||||||
| 17 | Matt Holliday | 2 | 1 | 12 | ||||||||
| 18 | Michael Morse | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||||||||
| 19 | Carlos Beltran | 1 | 4 | |||||||||
| 19 | Mike Stanton | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||||||||
| 21 | Ryan Roberts | 2 | 2 | |||||||||
| 22 | Ian Kennedy | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| 22 | Hunter Pence | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| 22 | Raul Ibanez | 1 | 1 |
I had a vote in this award, and this was my ballot: Kemp, Braun, Kershaw, Halalday, Lee, Votto, Fielder, Reyes, Tulowitzki, Pujols.
The Baseball Writers Association of American begin handing out their awards next week. The National League Cy Young Award will be announced on Thursday, November 17, and the NL MVP will be awarded on Tuesday, November 22.
For more news on Matt Kemp and the Dodgers, be sure to read True Blue LA.