Aaron Judge was named American League MVP for the second time in three seasons.
On Thursday, Judge was named American League MVP over New York Yankees teammate Juan Soto and Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. He won the award unanimously with all 30 first-place votes.
With this win, Judge joins a very prestigious group of Yankees greats who won multiple AL MVP awards during his time with the team. He becomes the seventh player in franchise history to win at least two MVPs, joining Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Alex Rodriguez. Four of those six players went on to become Hall of Famers.
The Yankees’ star slugger had a great season at the plate, nearly matching his impressive 2022 season in which he set the American League’s all-time home run record (62). Judge hit a career-high .322 and led the majors in home runs (58), RBIs (144), OPS (1.159), OPS+ (1.159), and bWAR (10.8).
Thanks to Judge’s performance at the plate and the acquisition of Soto in the offseason, the Yankees were able to win the AL East again after missing the postseason in 2023. In the postseason, Judge hit three home runs and advanced to the World Series for the first time in his career. The Yankees ultimately lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games.
Although the 2024 season ended badly for Judge, he has already proven to be one of the best hitters of his era. He is just one of four active players to win multiple MVP awards, joining Shohei Ohtani, Bryce Harper and Mike Trout. Judge, who boasts 315 career home runs, may be the next player to join the 500 home run club as he ranks first among active players in at bats per home run (11.31 at bats).
Regardless of what happens with Judge’s future, the 2024 season marks a third year of overwhelming growth for the Yankees slugger. During this period, he had a batting average of .304 and 157 total home runs, by far the most of any player in the league during this period. So it’s no surprise that Judge has won multiple MVP awards to show for his dominance over the past three years.
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