Aaron Judge He carved a permanent place in baseball fans’ memories when he hit an MLS single-season home run record and chased the Triple Crown down the stretch. Now, he has one last accolade to top his historic 2022 career.
The New York Yankees quarterback was crowned MVP Thursday night Shuhei Ohtani From the Los Angeles Angels and Jordan Alvarez From the Houston Astros. He is the first Yankees player to win the award since Mickey Mantle in 1962.
Judge received 28 first-place votes and 410 points, besting Ohtani (280) by 130 points. Ohtani was the only other player to receive first place votes, with two votes. Álvarez scored 232 points, ranking third.
Judge led the AL in a host of offensive categories, including home runs (62), RBIs (131), slugging percentage (. 686), on-base percentage (. 425), OPS+ (211) and total bases (391). He previously finished as the AL MVP runner-up in 2017, when he was a consensus AL Rookie of the Year.
He became only the fourth major leaguer to hit more than 62 homers in a season, joining Barry Bonds (73 in 2001), Mark McGuire (70 in 1998, 65 in 1999) and Sammy Sosa (66 in 1998, 63 in 1999). He lost only five points (. 311) from a Minnesota Twins player Louis Araz for the batting title, which would have completed the Triple Crown.
The MVP honor caps a season that began with buzz about contract negotiations with the Yankees as he entered the final year of his deal. The judge set a self-imposed deadline of opening day to negotiate a possible extension, but the parties failed to reach an agreement. Then Yankees general manager Brian Cashman took the unusual step of publicly revealing the terms of the contract the team had offered Judge—an eight-year, $230.5 million extension. Judge declined the offer, expecting bigger things if he made it to the free agent market after this season.
The season started relatively slowly for Judge, as he hit six eyebrows in 75 at-bats in April. But once the calendar turned to May, the judge took off. The Yankees starter hit 12 that month, 11 in June, 13 in July, 9 in August and 10 in September before hitting #62 on the final day of the regular season in October. Judge’s 157 bouts during 2022 were his most since his rookie season, and the previous best year of his career by bWAR (8.1).
Judge’s consistency from month to month was the backbone of a New York offense that at times struggled to stay healthy and produce around him. By the end of the season, it ranked second only to the Los Angeles Dodgers in baseball, with 807 runs scored.
As Judge approached Roger Maris’ AL record 61, every one of his at-bats became an event. Both at Yankee Stadium and on the road, fans stood every time he entered the batter’s box and remained standing at every outfield. Yankees scramble for spots at the top step of the dugout for a spot to watch their teammate potentially make history.
Judge hit his record-breaking 61st home run on September 28, catching a Toronto Blue Jays dump Tim Maiza deep in the seventh inning in the Yankees’ 155th game. A history-making homer ended a seven-game home drought.
No. 62 did not come until October 4, in the second-to-last game of the Yankees season. The record came from a Texas Rangers pitcher Jesus TinocoPreparatory shot to left field.
While Judge put a regular season to the record books, he came up short during the postseason, hitting his worst stretch of the season as the Yankees played the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Division Series and the Astros in the AL Championship Series. In nine games, Judge hit .139/.184/.306 with two homers out of five hits in nine games. The eventual World Series champion Astros finished the Yankees’ season with a four-game sweep in the ALCS.
Judge is now hitting the free agent market poised to land one of the biggest contracts out there. Hal Steinbrenner, the Yankees’ general partner, has said publicly that he wants Judge to be in shape for the rest of his career.
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