Aaron Judge is the odds-on favorite to win the AL MVP award this season [+115 on FanDuel] and rightfully so. In the midst of a contract year and with the always added pressure of playing for the New York Yankees, Judge has delivered a career-best season and is on pace to knock 60-plus home runs for the best team in baseball.
According to ESPN's Buster Olney, he believes that if it was any other year, Guardians' third baseman Jose Rameriz would be the clear-cut front runner in the AL MVP race.
On the latest episode of ESPN's Baseball Tonight, Olney was joined by ESPN MLB writer Tim Kurkjian to talk about a number of topics, including touching on Ramirez's remarkable season in 2022.
While Olney believes that Judge is the frontrunner for the AL MVP this season, he wants people to start paying attention to what Ramirez is doing in Cleveland.
"I don't think there's any doubt that Aaron Judge is the front runner to be the American League MVP because he's on a pace to hit over 60 home runs, be the first guy to hit that benchmark in over 20 years," Olney said. "But I do want people to pay attention to what Jose Ramirez is doing for the Guardians. Ridiculous."
Olney then claims Ramirez would be the leader in the AL MVP race in other season.
"In any other year if where you didn't have a player like Judge doing what he's doing, he'd be the runaway frontrunner to win the MVP."
When Olney asked Kurkjian whether he agrees with his stance or not, he wouldn't say Ramirez would be the runaway favorite because he still values whether the players' team is winning and in postseason contention.
"I wouldn't say run away but I would say he's right there. I'm 65, I still put value in if your team is ahead, is your team in first place, are you winning. Aaron Judge has 1.077 OPS for a team that is 44-16 and he's leading the league in home runs, he's the MVP of the league. When you are the best player on the best team, it almost guarantees you the MVP."
Some may think Kurkjian's stance on what an MVP looks like is a bit archaic, (considering last year's AL and NL MVPs Shohei Ohtani and Bryce Harper didn't participate in the postseason) but Olney pointed out that Ramirez has accounted for 37 extra-base hits, 16 homers, 33 walks and just 17 strikeouts, something he calls "impossible" to do in 2022.
Despite being all-in on Judge, Kurkjian said the strikeout total is what stands out the most in Ramierz's stat line this year--comparing the feat to what Joe DiMaggio and Ted Kluszewski have accomplished during their careers.
"When you have almost as many homers as strikeouts, that's DiMaggio, Ted Kluszewski esque, we just don't see that stuff anymore. That's the impressive part about Ramirez, he's the best third baseman in the game right now and he's tremendous."
Ramirez has finished in the top six of MVP voting all but one season over the last five years compared to Judge, who has finished in the top five only twice in that same span.
Related
Follow Jasper Jones on Twitter: @jonesj2342
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy Sports
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram