Yes, I know that Daniel Murphy has a higher batting average. I know that Giancarlo Stanton has way more home runs. I understand that Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, Joey Votto, and others have put up insane stats this year, but hear me out.

We’re living in the age of Statcast, and the fact that Batting Average is still used to measure a player’s value is ridiculous. Ask anybody who follows baseball closely and they will tell you that On Base Percentage is the better statistic. Average doesn’t factor in walks or hit-by-pitches, which get you on first base just as much as a single.

Of all NL MVP candidates, only Rendon and Goldschmidt have OBPs higher than .400. Murphy, Stanton, and Arenado, despite putting up lots of HRs and RBIs, don’t get on base nearly as much as Rendon.

There are a lot of statistics relevant to determining value, which measure different aspects of a player, but there is only one that truly can be used to determine value as a whole, including offensive production, defense, and baserunning. This statistic is WAR.

For those that don’t know, WAR stands for Wins Above Replacement. It is defined by the number of wins that a player adds to his team compared to a replacement player. There are a few different ways to calculate WAR, including fWAR, rWAR, and WARP. For a more in-depth description of WAR click here.

According to FanGraphs, the creators and calculators of fWAR, the current leader of the National League in Wins Above Replacement is (surprise, surprise) Anthony Rendon. As of September 6, Anthony Rendon’s season WAR is 6.4, leading Giancarlo Stanton and Joey Votto, who both sit at 6.0. To watch how fWAR progresses as the season goes on, click here.

I understand that the people who vote for Most Valuable Player will likely vote for Paul Goldschmidt, who has arguably already been snubbed for MVP twice, or Giancarlo Stanton, who is on his way to a historic season, home run-wise. But there is a statistic that measures value straight-up in terms of wins, and MVP does not stand for Most Powerful Player, not Most Consistently Good Throughout the Past Couple Seasons, but Most Valuable Player. And that man is Anthony Rendon.