Left: Aaron Judge waves to fans after the New York Yankees clinched the American League East title on September 26, 2024 in New York. Right: Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani follows the flight of his single off Colorado Rockies pitcher Seth Halvorsen in the eighth inning of a baseball game on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024, in Denver.
13:37 JST, October 5, 2024
NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge won the Baseball Digest/Inside Edge Major League Player of the Year award Friday, beating Shohei Ohtani in a close vote.
Both superstars were listed first on 12 of the 24 ballots. But the New York Yankees outfielder also received 12 second-place votes, while the Los Angeles Dodgers slugger was picked third based on a pair of submissions.
Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. earned the other two second-place votes and came third.
Detroit Tigers great Tarik Skubal was voted the sport’s best pitcher, and Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase was unanimously selected as reliever of the year in voting by a panel of baseball writers and broadcasters, including several former players, managers and executives .
Judge won the same award in 2022. Ron Guidry (1978) and Derek Jeter (2006) are the only other Yankees to win.
Ohtani finished second each of the last three years after winning in 2021. Atlanta Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr. was the winner last season.
Judge led the majors in 2024 with 58 home runs, 144 RBIs and a 1.159 OPS, propelling the Yankees to an AL East title. He batted .322 and scored 122 runs.
Ohtani had 54 home runs, 130 RBIs and a 1.036 OPS as the Dodgers won the NL West in his first year with the team after signing a record $700 million contract in free agency. He also stole 59 bases – producing the first 50-50 season in major league history – and batted .310 with an MLB-best 134 runs.
The two-way phenom did not pitch this year, appearing exclusively as a designated hitter while recovering from his second major elbow surgery.
Skubal won the pitching Triple Crown in the American League, going 18-4 while leading the circuit in wins, ERA (2.39) and strikeouts (228) in 192 innings.
He received 18 first-place votes to five for fellow left-hander Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves, who won the National League pitching Triple Crown, going 18-3 with a 2.38 ERA and 225 strikeouts in 177 2/3 innings.
Right-hander Zack Wheeler of Philadelphia got the other first place spot.
