Harper Named NL MVP, Donaldson Garners AL Award

Bryce Harper's monster season has made him the youngest unanimous MVP in baseball history.

Harper beat out fellow finalists Paul Goldschmidt of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Joey Votto of the Cincinnati Reds for the award. He tallied 420 points to finish 186 points ahead of Goldschmidt, who finished second.

In garnering all 30 first-place votes, Harper became just the seventh unanimous MVP in National League history.

"Very excited, very humbled," Harper said.

All three finalists were from teams that did not make the playoffs. The most recent MVP from a club that did not reach the postseason was St. Louis' Albert Pujols in 2008.

"The entire Lerner family extends congratulations to Bryce on his well-deserved Most Valuable Player award and his tremendous, record-setting season," Nationals owner Theodore N. Lerner said in a statement. "It's such a pleasure to watch him play and we look forward to his future outstanding contributions to the team."

Though the Washington Nationals' season (83-79) fell short of expectations, Harper did not, as he led the majors in on-base percentage (.460), slugging (.649) and WAR (9.9). He is the third-youngest player since 1900 to lead the majors in OBP and slugging, trailing only Ty Cobb (1909) and Stan Musial (1941), according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Harper also tied for the NL lead in homers (42) and had the second-best average in the NL (.330). In his first full season playing right field, he ranked fourth among NL right fielders with seven defensive runs saved and was a Gold Glove finalist.

The 23-year-old lefty slugger, who was drafted first overall in 2010 and has battled injuries since making his big-league debut in 2012, played in a career-high 153 games during a season in which several teammates missed time with injuries.

"All I wanted to do was stay healthy and stay on the field every day," Harper said.

Josh Donaldson Named AL MVP

Josh Donaldson was named the American League's Most Valuable Player on Thursday, becoming the first member of the Toronto Blue Jays to win the MVP award in nearly 30 years.

Donaldson got 23 first-place votes from members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout, who won the award last season, got the seven other first-place votes and finished second for the third time. Kansas City Royals outfielder Lorenzo Cain was third.

"You know going into a season that if you're ultimately going to win an MVP, you've got to put up better numbers than Mike," Donaldson said.

A fifth-year third baseman, Donaldson led the AL in RBIs with 123 and was third in the AL with 41 home runs. His 8.8 WAR was the third-best in the majors.

Trout also hit 41 homers, batting .299 with 90 RBIs and 104 runs. He led the AL with a 9.4 WAR.

Acquired in an offseason trade with the Oakland Athletics, Donaldson was a spark plug for Toronto's potent offensive attack and helped propel the team back into the playoffs for the first time since 1993. The Blue Jays won 93 games to claim the AL East title and went on to make the AL Championship Series, where they lost to eventual World Series winner Kansas City in six games.

The Blue Jays led the majors in myriad offensive categories including runs scored (891), home runs (232), doubles (308), total bases (2,518) and RBIs (852).

New Recommendations For  Safety Netting

Major League Baseball is close to new recommendations for safety netting at its stadiums for the 2016 season.

Commissioner Rob Manfred said Thursday that it "absolutely clear" there will be changes. He said there was more work to be done and that he wasn't prepared to go into details.

"In addition to a recommendation on the physical location of nets, there will be a broad fan education component to the program," Manfred said after owners wrapped up their quarterly meeting.

There were several instances of fans injured by foul balls at MLB games this year. The commissioner said fan safety is paramount.

Manfred said the 30 clubs encouraged MLB to move forward conceptually and that there is an understanding of the outlines of the plans. But he didn't want to elaborate until having those details "down in writing." That should be done by time the owners meet again in January.