AL Exec Picks Mariners Star Over New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge for MVP

The Seattle Mariners season lasted a little longer than the New York Yankees. They, too, were sent home by the Toronto Blue Jays, and neither Cal Raleigh nor Aaron Judge will be headed to the World Series this year. Instead, the only thing either of these two will have to look forward to is the American League’s Most Valuable Player award, which will be announced in November.

MVP has been a hotly contested debate all summer, and one person on Cal Raleigh’s side is the person who drafted him. Obviously, Jerry Dipoto, general manager of the Seattle Mariners since 2015, is backing his catcher.

“I think (Aaron Judge) is an unbelievable player – cruise into the Hall of Fame, first ballot. But I can’t imagine he did more to help his team get to where they needed to get to than Cal, on every front,” Dipoto said, according to Aaron Levine, the Fox 13 Sports Director in Seattle.

Of course, this is just what good organizations do. They back their guy.

At the end of September, manager Aaron Boone made his choice for MVP. He went with the guy he has managed since 2018.

“Nothing Aaron Judge does surprises me,” Boone said, according to Max Goodman of NJ.com. “I mean, to me, he’s the clear-cut MVP. Batting title. I feel like he’s been on base seven times a day the last week. Whether they don’t pitch to him, pitch to him, hitting it out of the ballpark. Made a really good play in right field to open the game. You see his athleticism out there. I don’t put anything past 99. He’s playing like an all-time great.”

Boone and Dipoto will defend their guys, but only one of them can be right —and statistically, Boone is on the right side of history. Judge has a higher WAR according to both Fangraphs and Baseball Reference. He has a much higher batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging. His wRC+ is also in the stratosphere.

Judge’s 204 wRC+ is the highest since 2024 and 2022, when he last did it. Before then, the last person to hit over a 200 wRC+ was Barry Bonds in 2004. The previous generational slugger before Bonds to eclipse the 200 wRC+ mark was Mickey Mantle. Judge is in rarified air.

If Judge ends up losing to Raleigh, you have to imagine that voter fatigue has set in. The proof for Judge is all there, and that is not to discount Raleigh. For as much as we haven’t seen a catcher hit over 60 home runs, it’s just that one stat should not decide who the best player in baseball is.

Judge deserves to sit in the three MVP club with Barry Bonds, Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Mike Schmidt, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Stan Musiel, Joe DiMaggio, and Jimmie Foxx. This is a rare class of greatness.

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