Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani win MLB Most Valuable Player Awards
The votes are in, and in what came as no surprise to those who follow the sport, Major League Baseball announced yesterday that Aaron Judge (American League, NY Yankees Outfielder) and Shohei Ohtani (National League, LA Dodgers Designated Hitter and Pitcher) were named this season’s Most Valuable Players.
Ohtani and Judge captured the Most Valuable Player awards in their respective leagues Thursday, both doing so unanimously. Ohtani won his third in four years, all of them coming by unanimous vote. Judge’s second — which comes two years after he edged Ohtani for the American League honor with a home-run-record-breaking season — came on the heels of one of the best offensive performances in baseball history. ~ ESPN
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Aaron Judge
Judge, who also won this award in 2022, is the 17th multiple winner in the American League. He joins a list that features three-time winners Jimmie Foxx (1932-33, 1938), Joe DiMaggio (1939, 1941, 1947), Yogi Berra (1951, 1954-55), Mickey Mantle (1956-57, 1962), Alex Rodriguez (2003, 2005, 2007) and Mike Trout (2014, 2016, 2019) and fellow two-time winners Hank Greenberg (1935, 1940), Hal Newhouser (1944-45), Ted Williams (1946, 1949), Roger Maris (1960-61), Robin Yount (1982, 1989), Cal Ripken Jr. (1983, 1991), Frank Thomas (1993-94), Juan Gonzalez (1996, 1998), Miguel Cabrera (2012-13) and Shohei Ohtani (2021, 2023).
This marks the 22nd time that a Yankees player has been honored, the most MVP Awards overall for one club in BBWAA voting dating to 1931. The St. Louis Cardinals are second with 18, the most in the National League. Judge joins three-time winners DiMaggio (1939, 1941, 1947), Berra (1951, 1954-55) and Mantle (1956-57, 1962); fellow two-time winners Maris (1960-61) and Rodriguez (2005, 2007) as well as Lou Gehrig (1936), Joe Gordon (1942), Spud Chandler (1943), Phil Rizzuto (1950), Elston Howard (1963), Thurman Munson (1976) and Don Mattingly (1985).
It is the first time in AL MVP voting that the winner received all the first-place votes and the runner-up got all the second-place votes. This has happened only once before in BBWAA MVP balloting. That was last year in the National League with winner Ronald Acuña Jr. of the Atlanta Braves receiving all 30 first-place votes and runner-up Mookie Betts of the Los Angeles Dodgers getting all 30 second-place votes.
Judge’s victory is the14th for a center fielder in the AL. He also played there in most of his games in 2022. Judge is on the list with three-time winners DiMaggio, Mantle and Trout along with Yount, Fred Lynn (1975) and Ken Griffey Jr. (1997). Yount was a shortstop when he won his first MVP Award in 1982. His team, the Milwaukee Brewers, moved to the NL in 1998. Center fielders have won the award in the NL six times – twice apiece by Willie Mays (1954, 1965) and Dale Murphy (1982-83) and once each by Willie McGee (1985) and Andrew McCutchen (2013).
Witt’s runner-up finish was the highest by a Royals player since 1985 when George Brett ran second to Mattingly. Kansas City had runners-up in three consecutive elections – John Mayberry in 1975, Brett in 1976 and Al Cowens in 1977. Brett is the only Royals player to have won the award, in 1980.
Judge, Witt, Soto, Henderson and Ramirez were named on every ballot.
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Shohei Ohtani
Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani was named the 2024 National League Most Valuable Player in voting conducted by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Ohtani earned 30 of the 30 first-place votes, winning the 23rd unanimous BBWAA MVP Award and the first player to win the award unanimously three times.
The 30-year-old becomes the first Dodger designated hitter and the ninth offensive player to win the award, joining Cody Bellinger (2019), Kirk Gibson (1988), Steve Garvey (1974), Maury Wills (1962), Roy Campanella (1953, 1955, 1956), Jackie Robinson (1949), Dolph Camilli (1941) and Jake Daubert (1913). He is the 13th player in the club history the win the award and the 15th time the Dodgers have rostered the MVP, which is third most all-time by a franchise and trailing only the Yankees (24) and Cardinals (21). The other Dodgers to receive the award are Clayton Kershaw (2014), Sandy Koufax (1963), Don Newcombe (1956) and Dazzy Vance (1924).
Ohtani is the first player since Miguel Cabrera (2012-13) to win the award in back-to-back seasons and becomes only the second player in Major League Baseball history win the award in both leagues, joining Frank Robinson, who won the MVP in the National League in 1961 as a member of the Cincinnati Reds and in 1966 as a member of the Baltimore Orioles. He is now tied for second all-time with three MVP awards (2021, 2023), joining Mike Trout (2014, 2016, 2019), Albert Pujols (2005, 2008, 2009), Alex Rodriguez (2003, 2005, 2007), Mike Schmidt (1980-81, 86), Mickey Mantle (1956-57, 1962), Yogi Berra (1951, 1954-55), Roy Campenella (1951, 1953, 1955), Stan Musial (1943, 1946, 1948), Joe DiMaggio (1939, 1941, 1947) and Jimmie Foxx (1932-33, 38) and trailing only Barry Bonds (1990, 1992-93, 2001-2004) who owns seven MVP awards.
The Japan native finished his first season with the Dodgers, slashing .310/.390/.646 with 54 round trippers and 130 RBI. He became the first player in Major League history with 50+ homers and 50+ steals in the same season while becoming the first player to notch 400 total bases since 2001. He broke the Los Angeles Dodgers’ record for runs scored in a season with 134 and finished among the Major League leaders in extra-base hits (99, 1st), runs (1st), total bases (411, 1st), hits (197, 4th), homers (54, 2nd), RBI (130, 2nd), batting average (.310, 5th), OBP (.390, 5th), slugging percentage (.646, 2nd) and OPS (1.036, 2nd).
Additionally, he won his third Louisville Silver Slugger, his second straight Hank Aaron Award and his fourth straight Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award and finished his historic campaign with his fifth Player of the Month honor in September. He finished the final month of the campaign hitting .393 (42-for-107) with 10 homers, 32 RBI, eight doubles, a triple, 12 walks, 27 runs scored, 16 stolen bases, a .766 slugging percentage and a .458 on-base percentage in 26 games, which included his record setting night on September 19 at Miami where he went 6-for-6, clubbing three homers, stealing two bases and driving in 10 runs to become the first player in Major League Baseball history with 50+ homers and 50+ steals in the same season.
Ohtani was the 2016 Most Valuable Player in Nippon Professional Baseball Pacific League and finished his seventh Major League campaign with the Dodgers. In seven MLB seasons, he has slashed .282/.371/.575 with 225 homers and 567 RBI while going 38-19 with a 3.01 ERA and 608 strikeouts in 86 games on the mound.
Prior to coming to the United States, Ohtani led the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters to the 2016 Pacific League Championship, hitting .322 with a 1.004 OPS, 22 homers and 67 RBI while posting a 1.86 ERA with 174 strikeouts. He played five seasons in the Nippon Professional Baseball League, batting .286/.358/.501/.859 with 48 homers and 166 RBI at the plate and a 42-15 mark with a 2.52 ERA and 624 strikeouts in 543 innings as a pitcher.
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(Source: MLB)
Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today
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