The 2022 season has been nothing short of miraculous for Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees.
While the Yankees have hit a few rough patches along the way, Judge hasn’t.
At 59 home runs, the 30-year-old slugger is two home runs away from tying Roger Maris‘ all-time record in the American League of 61.
As we’ve said before, Judge looks like the clear favorite to take home American League MVP honors.
On Twitter, Jon Heyman explains why, citing his WAR being in the double digits.
His WAR sits at 10.4 right now, and he’s 20 percent higher than Shohei Ohtani (8.6) and 46 percent higher than Paul Goldschmidt (7.1)
Aaron Judge WAR has now hit double digits at 10.4* so he will join Mike Trout (twice) and Mookie Betts as the only active players with a 10 WAR season. Judge is 20 percent higher than 2nd place Shohei Ohtani (8.6) and 46 pct higher than NL leader Paul Goldschmidt (7.1) *Fangraphs
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) September 20, 2022
Why Judge Is An MVP Favorite
That’s certainly a reason for Judge to win the MVP Award.
At this point, it’s beyond consideration.
He’s now the third active player to have reached double digits in WAR, joining Mookie Betts and Mike Trout.
Trout has reached that mark twice.
But with Ohtani well behind him, it seems that Judge is essentially a lock to win it.
WAR obviously isn’t the only stat you should look at, but it’s an important one when concerning the MVP race.
Ohtani and Goldschmidt are both putting together MVP-caliber seasons at the plate, and for Judge to be well in front of both of them is quite insane.
It just goes to show how dangerous Judge is at the plate and what he can do when a pitcher makes a mistake.
This could end up being the best offensive season by any player in baseball this year and would certainly rival some of the great seasons put together by Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and others.
Judge is the clear favorite for MVP for a reason.
NEXT: Graph Shows The Reality Of An Aaron Judge Home Run