For the second time in three seasons, Aaron Judge is the American League MVP.
Judge was named AL MVP on Thursday, winning the award over New York Yankees teammate Juan Soto and Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. He won this one unanimously with all 30 first-place votes.
With the win, Judge joins a very prestigious group of Yankees greats to win multiple AL MVP awards during their tenure with the team. He’s the seventh player in the organization’s history to win at least two MVPs, joining the likes of Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Alex Rodriguez. Four of those six players went on to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The Yankees star slugger had another tremendous season at the plate, nearly matching his impressive output from the 2022 season when he set the record for the most homers in American League history (62). Judge posted a career-high .322 batting average while he led the majors in homers (58), RBIs (144), OPS (1.159), OPS+ (1.159) and bWAR (10.8).
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Judge’s efforts at the plate, along with the offseason acquisition of Soto, helped the Yankees win the AL East again after missing the postseason in 2023. In the postseason, Judge hit three homers to reach the World Series for the first time in his career. The Yankees ultimately lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games.
Even though the 2024 season ended on a sour note for Judge, he’s already proven himself to be one of the best hitters of his time. He’s just one of four active players with multiple MVP wins, joining Shohei Ohtani, Bryce Harper and Mike Trout. With 315 career home runs, Judge might also be the next player to join the 500 home run club as he leads all active players in at-bats per home run (11.31).
Regardless of what’s next for Judge, the 2024 season marked the third year of a dominant stretch for the Yankees slugger. He’s hit .304 with 157 total homers in that time, which is by far the most of any player in the league in that stretch. So, it only makes sense that Judge has multiple MVP awards to show for his dominance over the last three years.
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