Dillon Atkinson: Does Jonathan Schoop deserve AL MVP consideration?

Orioles second baseman Jonathan Schoop has been having a career year, absolutely obliterating all of his prior season highs. Through 118 games, he's slashing .303/.354/.543 with 26 home runs and a 134 wRC+. His best season totals prior to 2017 was when he batted .279/.306/.482 with a 112 wRC+ in just 86 games in 2015, and he hit 25 long balls in a full 2016 season. He's on pace to hit well over 30 homers this season, which would be a first in his career. So far, he's definitely earned Most Valuable Oriole honors, but are his numbers enough to earn American League Most Valuable Player honors?

Among position players in the American League with at least 300 plate appearances, Schoop is tied for 14th in fWAR with Logan Morrison and Francisco Lindor. The 13 players ranked ahead of him - from first to 13th - are Jose Altuve, Aaron Judge, Mike Trout, Andrelton Simmons, Mookie Betts, José Ramírez, Justin Upton, Carlos Correa, George Springer, Justin Smoak, Didi Gregorius, Steven Souza Jr. and Lorenzo Cain.

If you were wondering if Schoop has a shot to earn the AL MVP, consider the fact that he's not even the top second baseman in the league. Altuve's got second base locked up. So Schoop is not only already behind him, but also behind the talents Trout and Judge without any debate.

In the American League, Schoop is tied for 10th in home runs, tied for 11th in batting average, tied for 25th in on-base percentage, 11th in slugging percentage and tied for 12th in wRC+. When it comes to defensive value, per FanGraphs, Schoop is ranked 60th. He has probably the strongest arm among second basemen in the majors and turns double plays with the best of them, but many believe - along with advanced metrics - that he's somewhat limited in range and may benefit by playing a different position more fit for his skill set down the road. But that can be debated another day.

What about the playoff factor? People can debate on whether or not making the playoffs should help your case for earning some MVP votes, but it's very possible that it could help Schoop's case if the Orioles do indeed grab a wild card spot. Obviously, top of the list guys like Altuve, Judge and Trout won't get knocked on it - at least by much - because what they've done this season has been absolutely stunning. But players like Upton, Smoak, Souza and Cain could have their chances at receiving top-five MVP votes decrease if their respective teams miss the playoffs. Unfortunately, Schoop could also fall in that category.

We didn't even get to the pitchers yet. Yes, in case you didn't know, pitchers are also eligible to win the MVP. Red Sox ace Chris Sale currently has a 7.4 fWAR, which is 1.2 higher than Altuve, who leads the position players in the AL. Corey Kluber, Luis Severino and Chris Archer all also have a higher fWAR than Schoop. Pitchers get a little bit less recognition for this award than position players, so my guess would be is that of the four, Sale and Kluber would be most likely to get votes over Schoop.

This isn't a knock on Schoop by any means, but simply to bring attention to the crazy amount of great talent that's still ahead of him. If he continues this pace for the rest of the year, I can see Schoop possibly finding himself around ninth or 10th place in the AL MVP voting, but not any higher than that. I'd love to eat my words, but I just don't see it happening.

I imagine some order of Altuve, Trout and Judge will take the top three spots, with Sale finishing fourth. Then for fifth through 10th you have to choose six of Simmons, Betts, Ramírez, Upton, Correa, Springer, Smoak, Gregorius, Souza, Cain, Lindor, Morrison, Schoop and Kluber. There may even be a few outsiders who could get votes, as well - maybe even Manny Machado. I wish the voters best of luck choosing this one. No matter what the results show, there will likely be multiple fan bases very unhappy.

Dillon Atkinson blogs about the Orioles for Orioles Uncensored. Follow him on Twitter: @DAtkinsonOU. His thoughts on the O's appear here as part of MASNsports.com's continuing commitment to welcome guest bloggers to our little corner of cyberspace. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.