The final Major League Baseball Awards were presented on Thursday with New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge of Sacramento, California winning the American League Most Valuable Player Award and St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt of Wilmington, Delaware winning the National League Most Valuable Player Award. It is the first time in their careers, that Judge and Goldschmidt received the honour.
Aaron Judge in 2022
Judge set the American League record for most home runs in a season with 62. He also led Major League Baseball in runs scored (133), runs batted in (131), on base percentage (.425), slugging percentage (.686), on base plus slugging percentage (1.111), and total bases (391). Meanwhile, in the American League, Judge was the leader in walks (111). He also had 177 hits, 28 doubles, 16 stolen bases, and five sacrifice flies.
An All-Star for the fourth time, Judge becomes the 14th Yankees player all-time to be named AL MVP. He followed outfielder Babe Ruth of Baltimore, Maryland (1923), first baseman Lou Gehrig of Yorkville, New York (1927, 1936), outfielder Joe DiMaggio of Martinez, California (1941, 1947), second baseman Joe Gordon of Los Angeles, California (1942), pitcher Spud Chandler of Commerce, Georgia (1943), shortstop Phil Rizzuto of Brooklyn, New York (1950), catcher Yogi Berra of St. Louis, Missouri (1951, 1954, 1955), outfielder Mickey Mantle of Spavinaw, Oklahoma (1956, 1957, 1962), outfielder Roger Maris of Hibbing, Minnesota (1960, 1961), catcher Elston Howard of St. Louis (1963), catcher Thurman Munson of Akron, Ohio (1976), first baseman Don Mattingly of Evansville, Indiana (1985), and third baseman Alex Rodriguez of New York City, New York (2005, and 2007).
Paul Goldschmidt in 2022
Goldschmidt led the National League in slugging percentage (.578). He also batted .317, with 35 home runs and 115 runs batted in. During 651 plate appearances, Goldschmidt scored 106 runs, and had 178 hits, 41 doubles, seven stolen bases, 79 walks, 324 total bases, four sacrifice flies, and had an on base percentage of .404.
This was the first time that Goldschmidt was a NL All-Star with the Cardinals. He was an All-Star six previous times with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Goldschmidt becomes the 17th Cardinals player all-time to be NL MVP. He follows second baseman Rogers Hornsby of Winters, Texas (1925), catcher Bob O’Farrell of Waukegan, Illinois (1926), first baseman Jim Bottomley of Oglesby, Illinois (1928), second baseman Frankie Frisch of New York, New York (1931), pitcher Dizzy Dean of Lucas, Arkansas (1934), outfielder Joe Medwick of Carteret, New Jersey (1937), pitcher Mort Cooper of Atherton, Missouri (1942), outfielder Stan Musial of Donora, Pennsylvania (1943, 1946, 1948), shortstop Marty Marion of Richburg, South Carolina (1944), third baseman Ken Boyer of Liberty, Missouri (1964), first baseman Orlando Cepeda of Ponce, Puerto Rico (1967), pitcher Bob Gibson of Omaha, Nebraska (1968), third baseman Joe Torre of Brooklyn, New York (1971), first baseman Keith Hernandez of San Francisco, California (1979), outfielder Willie McGee of San Francisco (1985), and Albert Pujols of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (2005, 2008, 2009).
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