AL MVP voters break down their choice now that Aaron Judge has prevailed over Cal Raleigh
Plenty has changed about baseball. Little has changed about how voters are supposed to determine the league’s Most Valuable Player. From the official guidance given by the BBWAA:
There is no clear-cut definition of what Most Valuable means. It is up to the individual voter to decide who was the Most Valuable Player in each league to his team. The MVP need not come from a division winner or other playoff qualifier.
The rules of the voting remain the same as they were written on the first ballot in 1931:
1. Actual value of a player to his team, that is, strength of offense and defense.
2. Number of games played.
3. General character, disposition, loyalty and effort.
4. Former winners are eligible.
5. Members of the committee may vote for more than one member of a team.
With that as a primer, here’s how The Athletic’s voters in the election for American League MVP, in which Aaron Judge earned 17 first-place votes and 355 points overall to prevail over Cal Raleigh (13 first-place votes).
History should be rewarded
Voter: Tyler Kepner
Past BBWAA elections: 1998 AL Cy Young, 1999 AL Cy Young
Why I voted for Cal Raleigh: It’s important to honor history when it happens. Raleigh’s 60 home runs set not one single-season record, but two — most home runs by a catcher and most by a switch-hitter. He did it across 705 plate appearances, a staggering total for a backstop.
Raleigh caught 121 games and logged 249 2/3 more innings in the field than Aaron Judge. That comes to 27 full games on defense at the sport’s most physically and mentally demanding position — an extra month’s worth of calling pitches, taking foul tips, controlling the running game, making plays at the plate and so on.
His first-half production was especially important, as in guiding a rotation battered by injuries and propping up a struggling lineup, Raleigh put Seattle in position to make the necessary late-July trades to fuel a run to the division title.
I talked to a lot of people about this vote, and everyone recognized that Judge had an extraordinary season. But mostly, I kept hearing that Raleigh’s impact as a full-time catcher should outweigh Judge’s big edge in rate stats.
And it was a big edge: .331/.457/.688 for Judge and .247/.359/.589 for Raleigh.
Judge had a lot more singles than Raleigh and was the majors’ runaway leader in BABIP, at .376. Raleigh’s BABIP was .248. But for all of that, Judge amassed just one more extra-base hit than Raleigh, 85 to 84. Judge was worth 10.1 fWAR, Raleigh 9.1 fWAR. When the difference is that slim, it’s not enough to sway the argument.
There’s also precedent to consider. In 2022, Shohei Ohtani had 34 homers and an .875 OPS while also going 15-9 with a 2.33 ERA in 166 innings. Yet Judge won the MVP by doing something we’d never seen before: hit 62 home runs in the American League. History should be rewarded.
Not swayed by round numbers
Voter: Chandler Rome
Past BBWAA elections: 2018 AL MVP, 2023 AL Manager of the Year, 2024 AL Rookie of the Year
Why I voted for Aaron Judge: Media votes for it and fans will fret over it, but the MVP is a players’ award. Choosing one without involving them is crazy. So, throughout the season’s final month, I sought counsel from as many players as possible — inside and outside the clubhouse I cover.
Their rationales differed. What they valued — or defined as “most valuable” — did too. Some asked for extra time to think. Others ordered me to pull out my phone and look up specific statistics. After all of it, their answers were near unanimous, and it is reflected in my vote.
Then, in late October, Cal Raleigh won Player of the Year and American League Player of the Year in the Players Choice Awards. So much for a consensus.
In a way, it is fitting for this entire debate. There is no wrong answer, a sentiment shared by every player, coach or executive I peppered with questions before my vote. Raleigh had a remarkable, record-breaking season while playing the most rigorous position in the sport. Not rewarding that felt wrong.
So did not recognizing Judge for the best offensive season in the sport — one superior to Raleigh’s in every statistic but one. Yes, Raleigh hit seven more home runs than Judge and, maybe more important to some, reached a round number of 60. That he did so didn’t sway me. If Raleigh is the MVP with 60 home runs, he’s the MVP with 57, 58 or 59 home runs.
Raleigh reached 60, but still slugged 99 points lower than Judge. Raleigh reached base at a .359 clip — 98 points lower than Judge. Batting average may be antiquated in 2025, but Judge still beat Raleigh by 84 points. Judge eclipsed 200 in the two most popular park adjusted metrics — wRC+ and OPS+. Raleigh didn’t reach 170.
If a few of these gaps were closer, this is a different conversation. Judge is the first player in 21 years to finish a 162-game season with a batting average higher than .330, an on-base percentage higher than .450 and an OPS+ higher than 200. The last person to do it was Barry Bonds en route to the 2004 NL MVP. Jeff Bagwell did it in 1994, too, and also won the MVP.
One player I spoke with gave Judge an edge due to his stature in the sport. Another mentioned the market in which he plays and the burden of being the Yankees’ captain. Judge is the focus of every opponent’s scouting report and, within a three-game series, may see one or two hittable pitches. His slumps, however rare, are splashed all over tabloid pages.
That’s been Judge’s life for the past five seasons. Until the middle of this one, Raleigh never received such outsized attention.
No, Judge didn’t squat for 1,072 regular-season innings without allowing a passed ball, but did play 822 1/3 innings in right field with a 6-foot-7 frame. To act as if Judge contributed nothing defensively or had a pain-free season is disingenuous. Then again, so is comparing the rigors of playing right field to being an everyday catcher.
It’s why Raleigh would be a more than deserving MVP, even if he didn’t get my vote.