Detroit Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera has won the 2012 AL Most Valuable Player Award. This is Cabrera’s first MVP Award.
Miguel Cabrera finished with 362 points (22 first-place votes), Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim outfielder Mike Trout finished second with 281 points (6 first-place votes), Texas Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre finished third with 210 points (0 first-place votes), New York Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano finished fourth with 149 points (0 first-place votes), and Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton finished fifth with 127 points (0 first-place votes).
Cabrera, 29, was signed by the Florida Marlins as a free agent in 1999. Cabrera made his major league debut 2003 at the age of 20. In his first major league game, Cabrera would hit a walk-off home run. He would hit a home run off of New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens in the 2003 World Series that they would go on to win. Cabrera would be traded to the Detroit Tigers after the 2007 season.
Prior to the 2012 season, the Tigers would sign first baseman Prince Fielder and this would move Cabrera to third base for the first time since 2007. Miguel Cabrera was selected to his seventh All-Star Game and got one at-bat but was held hitless. In 8 of Cabrera’s 9 major league seasons, including the 2012 season, he would hit at least 30 home runs. During his 2012 season, Cabrera brought in his 1,000th run batted in 1 of 4 players to reach this milestone before his 30th birthday.
The Tigers third baseman won the Silver Slugger Award at his position. Miguel Cabrera finished the season with a .330 batting average, 44 home runs, and 139 runs batted in, leading the league in all of the categories to win the Triple Crown. Cabrera is the first player to win the Triple Crown since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967. Cabrera won the Triple Crown without a tie in any of the categories since Frank Robinson in 1966.
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