The Minnesota Twins first baseman from New Westminster, B.C., beat out New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter in voting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Morneau is the second Canadian to be named MVP, joining 1997 National League winner Larry Walker.

Morneau picked up 15 of the 28 first-place votes and 320 points, 14 points ahead of Jeter, who had 12 first-place votes.

The 25-year-old Morneau batted .321 with 34 homers and 130 RBIs and was the heart of the offence as the Twins rallied to win the AL Central.

He's the second member of his team to win a major award this season, joining AL Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana.

``I'm putting my money on Justin Morneau,'' Santana said after his win last week. ``Hopefully he'll have a chance for everything he did for our team.''

Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz finished third with 193 points followed by Frank Thomas, who recently left the Oakland Athletics for the Toronto Blue Jays, and Chicago White Sox outfielder Jermain Dye.

Morneau, Jeter, Ortiz and Dye were the only players named on every ballot.

The victory caps a remarkable turnaround for Morneau, who began the season with some questioning whether he would ever live up to the Twins' lofty expectations.

But his teammates, notably centre-fielder Torii Hunter, predicted big things for him in 2006.

And after a slow start in April (.208, five homers, 15 RBIs) he delivered, often carrying Minnesota offensively with catcher Joe Mauer, who was sixth in the MVP voting.