In a season in which Aaron Judge led the American League in eight major offensive departments entering Saturday, it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which the New York Yankees slugger doesn’t win the MVP award.
And yet, that scenario is not only possible, but seemingly quite likely. At least that’s what a recent poll released by renowned MLB.com reporter Mark Feinsand shows.
The poll gathered the opinions of 14 MLB front-office executives, and the results showed that the Seattle Mariners’ Cal Raleigh would receive the award over Judge, if the decision fell to this group of voters.
Specifically, the results were seven votes in favor of Raleigh, six for Judge, and one considered them a tie.
In his article presenting these results, Feinsand discussed the impact that not being able to play more defense has had on Judge’s chances. Let’s recall that the Yankees star missed 10 games in July due to an elbow injury, after which he returned as a designated hitter. He only recently returned to right field, and even then only partially.
Raleigh is in a diametrically opposite situation. His performance as a catcher has been of extraordinary quality, and his impact has been felt in the results of the Mariners’ pitching staff.
“Had Judge not suffered his injury, his play in right field might have made defense a non-issue,” Feinsand wrote in his article. “Judge’s Statcast numbers in right field put him in the top 25 percent at his position, and had he played 140-plus games in the outfield, the defense vs. DH argument may have been moot.”
Raleigh led the American League with 56 home runs and 118 RBI entering Saturday. He also has 139 hits, a .246 BA, a .360 OBP, a .583 slugging percentage, and a .944 OPS, all career bests.
Meanwhile, Judge leads the league in WAR (8.6), runs (127), walks (116), batting average (.327), on-base percentage (.452), slugging (.673), OPS (1.124), and OPS+ (209), among other stats. His records for hits (168), home runs (48), and RBI (104) are also top-tier.
In fact, this is Judge’s fourth season with 40 or more home runs and 100 or more RBI in his 10 seasons with the Yankees. He won the American League MVP award in two of those previous three.
Only once in league history has there been a tie in MVP voting. That happened in 1979, when the award was shared by Keith Hernandez and Willie Stargell.
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