Awards Watch: Most Valuable Player

1. Mike Trout, CF, Angels (1)

Season Stats: .340/.403/.595, 22 HR, 93 R, 38 SB

Last Three Weeks: .274/.360/.548, 6 HR, 17 RBI, 7 SB

Despite missing nearly all of April, Trout leads the majors in stolen bases and runs scored, leads the AL in batting average and is second in the league in slugging percentage behind the injured David Ortiz. His bat has finally started to cool a bit of late, as he's just 8-for-32 (.250) over his last eight games, but the power surge that he experienced in July continues, with three of those eight hits being home runs. Trout went deep eight times in his first 258 plate appearances this year, a rate of roughly one home run every 32 trips, but has 14 more home runs in his last 179 PA, a rate of roughly one every 13 PA. The latter is a 50-homer pace over a full season of 650 plate appearances.

2. Miguel Cabrera, 3B, Tigers (4)

Season Stats: .327/.388/.585, 30 HR, 103 RBI

Last Three Weeks: .321/.391/.603, 6 HR, 21 RBI

Cabrera drove in his 100th run of the season on Tuesday and hit his 30th home run on Wednesday. He has now reached both of those totals in each of the last six seasons and eight of his nine full major league campaigns, missing only the home run total in the exception. Cabrera has compiled nearly half of his 30 home runs and 100 RBIs (14 and 45, respectively) since June 25, hitting .368/.439/.678 over that span, which suggests that he's finally comfortable over at third base.

3. Robinson Cano, 2B, Yankees (2)

Season Stats: .311/.372/.551, 25 HR, 68 RBI

Last Three Weeks: .268/.350/.437, 3 HR, 12 RBI

Cano has blown hot and cold over the last three weeks. He went three games without a hit for the first time all season July 28 to 30, followed that by hitting .400/.467/.625 over his next 10 games, but has just one hit in his last four games entering Thursday's action and sat out on Wednesday with a stiff neck.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/cliff_corcoran/08/16/trout-mccutchen-most-valuable-player/index.html#ixzz23otmjbak