NEW YORK — Baseball Digest and eBay chose Aaron Judge as the best major league player of the year because he hit 62 home runs, which is an American League record.
Last year’s winner and AL MVP Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels lost to the New York Yankees’ power hitter.
Sandy Alcantara of the Miami Marlins was chosen as the best pitcher, and Edwin Diaz of the New York Mets was chosen as the best reliever. The winners of these awards were announced on Thursday.
Baseball Digest selects the best player, pitcher, and rookie award once the regular season ends. This is ongoing since 1969.
A group of 22 baseball writers and broadcasters, including former players, managers, and executives, all gave Aaron Judge 18 first-place votes.
Ohtani got the other four first-place votes for having another great season both as a pitcher and a batter. Paul Goldschmidt, a first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals, came in third.
Roger Maris, an outfielder for the Yankees, set the AL record for home runs with 61 in 1961. Aaron Judge broke that record and helped the Yankees win the AL East title.
The 30-year-old, a four-time All-Star and the 2017 AL Rookie of the Year, also leads the MLB in total runs at 133. He is the player with the highest on-base and slugging percentages at .425 and .686 respectively. No one in the Major League has a better record than Aaron Judge in total bases, OPS, and extra bases. With 131 RBIs, Aaron Judge equaled Mets slugger Pete Alonso for second place in the AL hitting race, behind Minnesota’s Luis Arraez (.316).
The only other Yankees to receive Baseball Digest’s player of the year award in its 54-year history were pitcher Ron Guidry (1978) and shortstop Derek Jeter (2006).
After the World Series, Aaron Judge will be a free agent and this could land him in a contract with a pot of gold.
Can Aaron Judge win the AL MVP award this year?
