St. Louis Cardinals Yadier Molina catches a foul ball off the bat of Colorado Rockies Michael Cuddyer in a game on July 5, 2012. UPI/Bill Greenblatt
Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina was named one of five finalists for the National League MVP Award which iis handed out by the baseball writers. The finalists have been named ahead of time, something new this year. The winners will be announced next week.
Molina joins Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun, San Diego’s Chase Headley, Pittsburgh’s Andrew McCutchen and San Francisco’s Buster Posey in the running for NL MVP. Molina led the Cardinals with a .315 batting average and had a career-best 22 homers and 76 RBIs. Molina also hit 28 doubles and stole 12 bases. Molina won the Gold Glove Award for a fifth time.
Starting pitcher Kyle Lohse was not a finalist for the Cy Young Award, despite finishing with a NL-best .842 winning percentage. He ranked in the top five among NL starters in ERA (2.86). New York’s R.A. Dickey, Washington’s Gio Gonzalez and Los Angeles’ Clayton Kershaw are the three NL finalists.