Trout v. Cabrera half way through 2013.

Mike Trout and Miguel Cabrera were the two outstanding candidates for the 2012 American Conference (AC) Most Valuable Player (MVP) award.  I supported Trout but Cabrera won primarily because he led in the traditional triple crown stats: batting average (BA), home runs (HR) and runs batted in (RBI).

So how are they doing as we approach the mid point of the 2013 season?  Cabrera leads the entire Major Baseball League (MBL) in BA (.368) and RBI (77); he's tied for second in HR (21) behind Chris Davis (28) who has played 77 games for AC East Baltimore.  77 would be half of the old 154 game schedule and 28 HR would suggest that Davis has a chance to hit 60 HR.  That still gets my attention.

Even among the top ten of the AC Trout is nowhere to be seen in BA, HR or RBI.  Trout is #7 in on base average (OBA): .383; Cabrera leads at .460.  Slugging average (SLG):
1. Davis .716
2. Cabrera .649

6. Trout .530

On-Base Plus Slugging
1.	Davis (BAL)	1.125
2.	Cabrera (DET)	1.108
3.	Ortiz (BOS)	1.017
4.	Longoria (TBR)	.929
5.	Mauer (MIN)	.917
6.	Trout (LAA)	.914

Adjusted OPS+
1.	Davis (BAL)	199
2.	Cabrera (DET)	195
3.	Ortiz (BOS)	168
4.	Longoria (TBR)	156
5.	Trout (LAA)	155

Runs Scored
1.	Cabrera (DET)	58
2.	Jones (BAL)	55
3.	Trout (LAA)	54

Total Bases
1.	Davis (BAL)	202
2.	Cabrera (DET)	192
3.	Trout (LAA)	166
	Longoria (TBR)	166

In the batter's box Cabrera is doing better than Trout.  Cabrera is tied for seventh most double plays grounded into: 11; Trout 4 despite leading the AC in plate appearances (PA) with 360.

Stolen Bases
1.	Ellsbury (BOS)	32
2.	McLouth (BAL)	24
3.	Trout (LAA)	19

Stolen bases and caught stealing:

Trout 19/3

Cabrera 2/0

Among the more esoteric stuff:

Base-Out Runs Added (RE24) Davis, Cabrera, Trout

Win Probability Added (WPA) Davis, Cabrera

Situ. Wins Added (WPA/LI) Davis, Cabrera, Trout

Base-Out Wins Added (REW) Davis, Cabrera, Trout

Finally, although it's not something I endorse: wins above replacement player (WAR):

1. Machado (BAL) 4.4
2. Cabrera (DET) 4.3
3. Davis (BAL) 4.1
4. Longoria (TBR) 3.7
5. Pedroia (BOS) 3.7
6. Mauer (MIN) 3.5
7. Donaldson (OAK) 3.1
8. Cano (NYY) 2.9
9. Kipnis (CLE) 2.8
10. Gardner (NYY) 2.8

Trout 2.7

Offensive WAR: Cabrera, Davis, Trout.

Defensive WAR: none of those three are in the top ten.

So far in 2013 it appears that Cabrera is more valuable than Trout but for the MVP award Cabrera may be battling Davis.