Aaron Judge v. Shohei Ohtani: Who holds the upper hand in the AL MVP race?

Tuesday October 4, 2022

The AL MVP race has narrowed to two – Yankees’ Aaron Judge, who is chasing a six-decade home-run record and likely to win the Triple Crown, and Angels’ Shohei Ohtani, the most famous two-way player in the Major League. Let’s examine who leads in the battle of their statistics.

It is generally agreed upon that Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani are two of the top players in the game of baseball in the present era. One is ranked among the biggest power hitters while the other is recognized for his “historically significant” impact on baseball. Both of these players are previous recipients of the Rookie of the Year award. Both have succeeded in winning over the admiration and appreciation of fans all around the world.

This year both Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani are pitching against each other for the AL MVP award. Despite the fact that both players have different strengths and shortcomings, they have their own talents and claims. They are now at the top of their respective divisions. But who has the upper hand based on their statistics? Let’s find out how they stack up.

First and foremost, keep in mind that Shohei Ohtani is a pitcher in addition to being a batter, whereas Aaron Judge has never even started a game in the Major Leagues. If this is the only thing to consider, Ohtani must be of higher quality.

Aaron Judge, on the other hand, is a hitter of a caliber that baseball has rarely witnessed in the last eight decades. At this point, Judge has 61 home runs in the 2022 season, which is far more than the most in all of Major League Baseball this season. Aaron Judge has hit home runs in more than 10% of his total plate appearances, which makes him one of the best hitters the MLB has ever seen.

In addition, Judge deals is an immaculate power hitter. This season, his slugging percentage sits at.689, which is the best in the league. Judge has amassed a slugging percentage of.583 over the course of his career. Despite the fact that Judge entered the league two years before Ohtani, his SLG is now 50 points better due to this. Over the course of his career, Aaron Judge has hit an average of 31 home runs per year compared to Ohtani’s 25.

The capacity to walk is yet another indicator of health and wellbeing that receives less attention than it should have. Aaron Judge possesses a very high level of patience that makes him a powerful swinger. In Judge’s career, he has led the Major League in walks for two seasons with only roughly 8% of those walks being intentional.

Ohtani has shown less patience at the plate over the course of his career, as seen by the fact that over 14% of his walks have been intentional. He was first in the league in intentional bases on balls (IBB) during the 2021 season.

Ohtani exhibits a markedly more aggressive base running style compared to Aaron Judge. Ohtani has stolen 66 bases over the past five seasons, whereas the Yankees’ slugger only has 40 stolen bases to his name.

Ohtani would be a deserving winner of the American League Most Valuable Player award if Aaron Judge and he both put up the same numbers for their teams. Ohtani may not have hit as many home runs as Aaron Judge, but he has started 27 games and has a 2.35 earned run average and a 2.44 fielding independent pitching average.

Who then is the best? Aaron Judge has played for a longer period of time, and Ohtani cannot compete with him in any of the hitting categories. However, it is impossible to ignore the fact that Ohtani is a devastating pitcher, who is also capable of playing on an entirely different side of the game. By comparing their statistics, one can conclude that Shohei Ohtani is a more well-rounded player, despite the fact that Aaron Judge has a slight edge when it comes to his hitting ability.