Judge wins AL MVP after historic slugging season
Aaron Judge is the American League MVP.
The 30-year-old received 28 1st-place votes to beat out Los Angeles Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani and Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez for the award.
"I was extremely nervous," Judge said about coming into the day. "Both those guys (Alvarez and Ohtani) had incredible years."
Judge, who finished runner-up for the award in 2017, is coming off a historic season in which he broke the AL and New York Yankees single-season home run record with 62. He also led the AL in runs, RBIs, walks, OBP, slugging, OPS, and WAR.
He is the first Yankees player to win the award since Alex Rodriguez in 2007 and first Yankee outfielder since Mickey Mantle in 1962.
"You dream about it as a kid, to be in this moment and share this experience, but you never truly think it's going to happen," Judge said. "It takes a lot of hard work, a lot of love and support from family, friends, and teammates over the year."
Full breakdown of BBWAA voting
| Player | Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Judge | Yankees | 28 | 2 | 410 | |||
| Ohtani | Angels | 2 | 28 | 280 | |||
| Alvarez | Astros | 22 | 8 | 232 |
Judge - who rejected a $213.5-million extension offer from the Yankees before the 2022 campaign - is this offseason's top free agent.
Passing the torch from the former tallest MVP in MLB history to the new one.@TheJudge44 | @Giancarlo818 | @Yankees | #RepBX pic.twitter.com/G3kwIYGA20
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) November 18, 2022
Ohtani failed to defend his title despite posting an arguably better season than his 2021 MVP-winning campaign. The two-way star hit 34 homers and posted an .875 OPS at the plate while producing a 2.33 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, and 219 strikeouts across 166 innings. He finished fourth in AL Cy Young voting.
The two voters that had Ohtani first on their ballots were from the Los Angeles chapter.