MLB: Future MVPs? Hank Aaron Award Winners Announced

New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge and St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt are strong contenders for MVPs in their respective leagues. While those accolades won’t be announced until next week, the acclaimed hitters were named Wednesday as winners of the 2022 Hank Aaron Award.

The award, which annually recognizes the best offensive season in the National League and American League, was established in 1999. Of the 46 previous winners, 22 were named MVP that same year. Each team nominated a player for the honor, and a panel of MLB.com writers selected 16 finalists – eight from each league – among the 30 nominees.

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Judge, now a free agent, is coming off a historic season. He set an AL record with 62 home runs, and also led all of baseball in several categories, including runs scored (133), RBIs (131), OBP (.425), slugging (.686), OPS (1,111) and bases reached (391).

Like Judge, Goldschmidt was also contending for the Triple Crown until the final weeks of the season. But even with his production slumping in September, the veteran first baseman led the Circuit in slugging (.578), OPS (.981) and OPS+ (180). Additionally, he finished in the top three in runs scored (106), RBIs (115), bases reached (324), batting average (.317), OBP (.404) and WAR.

Gabriel Delgado

I started as a rookie at Al Bat in early 2018 and am in my third season covering Major League Baseball as a web reporter. I’m a fan of the San Francisco Giants, number one defender of Barry Bonds, and hater of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Fernando Tatis Jr., Juan Soto and Ronald Acuña are the future of baseball, Mike Trout is overrated, and the Astros deserved to have the World Series taken from them for their cheating. Besides baseball, I also enjoy football, flag football, basketball, and just about any other game that involves a ball or ball. I’m also an amateur musician, a penniless gamer and very nerdy. Graduated in journalism from the University of Guadalajara, I graduated in 2017. Born in the world capital of shrimp, Escuinapa, Sinaloa. I lived for a while in Australia; I survived giant spiders, tasmanian devils and fought a kangaroo and didn’t die trying.

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