Can Andrelton Simmons Earn More MVP Votes?

Andrelton Simmons has been a defensive wizard since he broke through to the MLB and has been considered by some to be the best defensive shortstop of the generation. His defense alone has him walking the tightrope to a Hall of Fame finish thus far in his career according to bWAR and fWAR measurements. It’s this reason the Twins brought the 31-year-old shortstop to Minnesota on a one year deal.

After a shocking error in the first game of the season, Simmons has been as advertised with the glove. His baseball IQ is through the roof, his range and arm at shortstop are unlike anything Twins fans have ever seen as he’s proven several times already in this young season.

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There’s little doubt that Simmons’ presence will be made known defensively, but it’s the offense so far that should really be drawing eyes.

Simmons has a slash line of .270/.318/.379 in his career, good for 9% below a league average hitter in that time according to wRC+. He perfectly fits the mould of a light hitting, slick fielding shortstop, perfect for a bottom of the order hitter on a team full of mashers. Through seven games, however, Simmons is on fire posting a .450/.577/.600 slash which is 129% above league average.

He can’t and won’t keep producing at this level forever as evidenced by his absurd .600 batting average on balls in play. That being said, what Simmons is doing so far should be encouraging. His 2019 and 2020 have been hindered by ankle injuries and separate him from his 2017 and 2018 seasons, the former in which he finished eighth in MVP voting. In those seasons Simmons did little more than put up league average offense while his glove carried him to 5+ win seasons in both years (The last Twin to post 5+ fWAR was Brian Dozier in 2017). His health has kept him from doing so since.

The Twins new shortstop may very well run into more injuries as he passes the age of 30, in fact there’s reason to believe this is likely. That being said, we may be looking at the first time Andrelton Simmons has been fully healthy since he received MVP votes three years ago which has a possibility to be the steal of the offseason for the Twins at $10.5m.

Look for the Twins to continue to manage Simmons’ workload as we’ve seen with him already getting one off day through the season’s first seven games. Even if his range at short reduces with the normal wear and tear of the regular season, his instincts and arm should continue to be the main source of his value. Avoiding the big injury and therefore being able to hold his own offensively may elevate him to a level the Twins didn’t have in mind when they signed their stopgap shortstop.

Could the Twins have picked up another name that we could possibly see receiving MVP votes by season’s end? Is Simmons’ offense so far just a complete mirage doomed to come crashing down? Let us know below.

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