Freeman places fifth in NL MVP voting

ATLANTA -- Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman finished fifth in the balloting for this year's National League Most Valuable Player Award.

The Pirates' Andrew McCutchen was named the winner on Thursday evening. Rounding out the top five in order were D-backs first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina, Cardinals second baseman Matt Carpenter and Freeman.

Freeman was included on each of the 30 ballots, but did not receive a top-three vote. The 24-year-old slugger did receive five fourth-place votes.

Freeman batted .319 with 23 home runs and a .897 OPS. On the way to driving in a career-best 109 runs, he ranked second in the NL in batting average with runners in scoring position (.443). Freeman's .411 batting average with two outs and runners in scoring position ranked fourth in the Senior Circuit.

McCutchen led all NL players with a 8.2 Baseball-Reference WAR. Goldschmidt ranked fourth (6.4) and Molina sixth (5.6). Freeman's Braves-best 4.8 WAR stood as the NL's 11th-best mark.

Craig Kimbrel and Andrelton Simmons were the other Braves to receive MVP votes -- Kimbrel finished 11th and Simmons 14th.