[BirdWatcher]

The 1986 Shoeless Joe League MVP:





At age 29, the Boston Berserkers Kyle Adams has already had a highly successful career, having been an All-Star 3 times, a Gold Glover at his position 3 times, and having won 3 Silver Slugger awards, all while playing for a team that is mostly an afterthought in the SJL East. But this year he put together such a dominant season that he earned his first MVP trophy. Not only did he win the SJL batting title but he also led the league in RBI with 121 and OBP at .431, while slugging 30 homers and collecting 38 doubles. His 210 hits was a career high for him, as was his 108 runs scored. (He has hit collected at least 200 hits once before and scored at least 100 runs in 2 other seasons prior to this one.)
Adams now has a career slash line of .323/.389/.548 and has a career WAR of 43.9 over 7 seasons. He is a fine defensive first baseman and can even play an acceptable second base (his original position). He is very slow and won't help on the base paths but his combination of plus plus power and plus plus contact skills (he also rarely strikes out and in fact has a career walks total of 454 with just 236 career strikeouts) make him one of the best all-around hitters in the game.

Runner-up Danny Belmontes of San Antonio had his best season yet at age 29, finally coming out of the shadow of Hall of Fame teammates Bud Lindsay and John Mussaw a bit. This might have been Belmontes best chance at an MVP award and there are serious questions about his durability but he combines great speed with good power and is a loyal teammate and probably one of the more under-rated players in the WPK.

Chicago shortstop Pat Thompson has now emerged as the best at his position in the game, supplanting the aforementioned Lindsay. He will likely be in the running for the MVP award often in the future and it won't be a surprise if he claims at least one or two before his career ends.

Former MVP winners who also received votes this year include San Antonio's great second baseman John Mussaw, who is a 2-time winner, Pittsburgh's dynamic but injury-prone right fielder Matt Van der Heyden, also a 2-time MVP, and the 1985 SJL MVP, Donovan Hickson, who got off to a very slow start in 1986 but still finished the season with a league best home run total of 39, led the league in bases on balls with 110, and stole 23 bags for the second straight season. His slash line was an unusual .228/.353/.500.



And finally, your Moonlight Graham League MVP:





Surprise, surprise (sarcasm alert)- it is 70 bomb hitting rookie Hyeong-uk Chun.
It is pretty well established what the 5-tool Phoenix rookie center fielder did this season so we won't belabor that point here.

Runner up Steve Whitehead is now 33 years old and has battled injuries his entire career. If it weren't for his struggles to stay healthy a full season he probably would own at least one of these trophies. But alas, it might never happen for the intelligent St. Louis third baseman out of Beverly Hills, Michigan.

His teammate, 26-year old Gus Reyna, sort of came out of nowhere this year to lead the league in hits (222) and at-bats (653). Unlike Whitehead he profiles as durable but like the veteran third baseman he has great baseball smarts and is also a hard worker. While he has under-whelming power for a corner infielder, he does possess great speed to go along with a tremendous contact bat. There should be several good seasons ahead for Reyna.

Charlotte's Alex Bock has been discussed here a bit lately. Suffice it to say that at age 23 and with a plus plus contact-first bat and elite speed, along with a strong work ethic, this kid is a rising star on an aging team in need of young bats.

Denver's Jerry Lillie finished 5th in the voting in his true rookie season, a campaign that was overshadowed by the historic nature of Chun's season.

A few veterans who previously won league MVP honors were also in the running: San Francisco third baseman Mike Shervey, who was the SJL MVP in 1983 as a member of the San Antonio Keys, Charlotte's injury-prone 32-year old right fielder Eric Hammock, and Phoenix right fielder Luis Olivez, who put together his 3rd season now with at least 20 homers and at least 20 stolen bases.