Aaron Judge

[MattyC]

A rookie is runner-up for MVP while setting the rookie HR mark? Awesome.

[yanksfan09]

Originally Posted by MattyC

A rookie is runner-up for MVP while setting the rookie HR mark? Awesome.

Yea, unbelievably impressive!

And just think about this, I had this thought this morning.

What if it had been Mike Trout who put up the exact stat line that Aaron Judge did this year. Say Trout hadn't been hurt and had a breakout power year for him with the other numbers in Judges stat line....

155games 542ab 128 Runs 52 HR 114RBI (2nd in LG) 127 Walks 9 SB .284 avg .422 OBP(2nd in LG) .627 SLG (2nd in LG) 1.049 OPS (2nd in LG)

That is an absolutely dominant statistical year for a power hitter.

Yes... I know he lead league in strikeouts as well. But can anyone truthfully tell me if the person who put up the above stat line's last name was Trout that he would not be MVP?

Altuve was great and also deserving, not saying he's not I just think the voters put a lot of emphasis on past track records and service time and player name recognition etc... in their voting.

I just think if Trout had put up Judges exact stat, setting a new HR mark for himself with all those great other numbers, there wouldn't likely be much debate. Leading League in HR, R, and Walks etc...

I think Altuve will win this year and is equally deserving. But I also feel that voters are taking into account him leading the lg in hits last few seasons and them also likely thinking that it's Altuves chance with Trout getting hurt this year. Almost like it's his turn.

Again, Altuve had a great year , I'd like to see a co-MVP this year but obviously won't happen. I tip my cap to Altuve and Astros. Hopefully the Yankees can make some noise again next year!

[yanksfan09]

I am also sure there are a number of voters with the thinking that judge has rookie of year vote locked up so he doesn't "need" to win both roy and mvp.

[packs]

Here's my thing about Altuve: he isn't the reason the Astros were good. The roster is stacked. Altuve had the best season among them, but I firmly believe without Altuve the Astros still finish where they did.

I don't think the same thing can be said about the Yankees. Without Judge the Yankees were doomed. There's no way they enter the All Star break where they were without Judge's first half performance, and there's no way they finish the season where they were without Judge's September. That's an MVP.

[scott6649]

The Yankees were 31-22 from July 14 to Sept 10. In that time span Judge hit .191 with 11 home runs and 24 RBI. One could argue that they did fine without him. With his second half followed by his playoff showing one could also maybe argue that the league figured him out. Sure he got fat on September callup pitching.. Big deal. His home road splits are obscenely in favor of Yankee Stadium. .312 hitter at home, .256 on the road. He set a home run record in a juiced ball year, breaking a home run record set by McGwire in 1987 which was a juiced ball year. So it's not really the slam dunk that some might think it is, let alone my personal opinion that giving the MVP to a rookie is dumb. Gotta prove you belong.

[packs]

Like by breaking the rookie home run record and leading the league in multiple offensive stats?

[MattyC]

Originally Posted by scott6649

Sure he got fat on September callup pitching.. Big deal.

Let's see who he homered against in September...

I see ONE "call up" pitcher, Richard Rodriguez, on Sept 14th. The rest are:

Sept 3 - Addison Reed 468 feet
Sept 7 - Kevin Gausman 420 feet
Sept 10 - Nick Martinez 379 feet
Sept 10 - Yohander Mendez 461 feet
Sept 14 - Mike Wright 418 feet
Sept 18 - Ervin Santana 395 feet
Sept 20 - Bartolo Colon 349 feet
Sept 22 - Marco Estrada 469 feet
Sept 24 - Marcus Stroman 378 feet
Sept 24 - Ryan Tepera 391 feet
Sept 25 - Jakob Junis 389 feet
Sept 25 - Trevor Cahill 408 feet
Sept 28 - Jake Faria 357 feet
Sept 30 - Marcus Stroman 484 feet

Hitting 52 homers at the MLB level is certainly a big deal, and any attempt to slight that comes across as sour grapes.

It is hard enough to get drafted, let alone hit 52 homers with a .400+ OBP.

As to the "juiced ball," he led the league in homers using balls that every other man in the league got a chance to hit. I would also venture most of his homers would be homers in most ballparks. Tangentially, Minute Maid isn't exactly a pitcher's park.

The whole "they did fine without him in the second half," line of thought is specious and intentionally reductive; it utterly chooses to omit the benefit of his first half production. He was on base at a .448 clip in the first half, and a .391 clip in the second half. As to his playoff showing, he had some big hits and absolutely saved their season with a stellar piece of glove work.

Bottom line, all subjective MVP discussions aside (Altuve is a fantastic baseball player and the likely MVP), trying to hate on this Judge kid is a bad and petty look. It is a fact that he had a historic debut campaign and plays the game right.

[scott6649]

Mike Wright and Yohander Mendez would count as September call-ups too, but whatever. Not exactly a list of Cy Young candidates or anything. My point was never that he's terrible. I'm not "hating on" him as you suggest. I'm saying he's not the MVP and giving some reasons as to why I might think that. You can also look at his clutch stats, and his leverage stats and his stats against teams above and below .500. They're not good enough to me to be considered "Most Valuable". They're good enough to be considered second most valuable. To me.