The MLB Players Association has chosen Aaron Judge as the best player in all of baseball for 2022. He is to get the Players Choice Award for the Player of the Year. The Yankees slugger has also been named for the Outstanding American League Player award.
Aaron Judge was voted by the association that has his teammates as well as players who played against him. Their voting for the power hitter above Shohei Ohtani clearly put him ahead in the race for the Most Valuable Player.
This was the second big award where Aaron Judge beat Ohtani. Earlier, Baseball Digest and eBay chose Aaron Judge as the best major league player of the year. As the MLB’s awards season has already started, Judge can hope for a lot of shiny hardware for his great 2022 season with the Yankees.
During a historic free-agent walk year, Aaron Judge, 30, broke Roger Maris‘ franchise and AL record of 61 home runs and came close to becoming the American League’s first Triple Crown winner since Miguel Cabrera in 2012.
Judge led the league with 62 home runs, 131 RBI, and .311 OPS while batting .311 in 157 games (1.111). His superb performance came just seven months after he turned down the Yankees’ offer of a seven-year, $213.5 million extension offer. As he becomes a free agent after the world series, there has been keen competition among cash-rich teams to sign him.
After the Yankees were swept by the Houston Astros in the AL Championship Series and Judge went 1-for-16, he admitted that he wanted to stay with the Yankees for the rest of his life if there would an agreement. However, he told:
“But we couldn’t come to an agreement before spring training, so I’m a free agent now. We’ll see what comes of it.”
Anthony Rizzo, Judge’s teammate and a possible free agent himself, said the slugger’s stats and impact on the clubhouse speak for themselves and claimed that he won 40 games for the Yankees.
“The money he’s brought to this organization, this franchise, to the game of baseball – I’m sure just the money alone in September and him chasing 62 was enough to easily pay (him).”
On Friday, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told the press that Aaron Judge is irreplaceable for the team and leaves it to owner Hal Steinbrenner to decide up to what extent he could go to keep the power hitter.
What are other awards do you expect Judge to win? Let us know.
