2025 Major League Player Of The Year

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Aaron Judge Photo by Michael Mooney/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

Aaron Judge has shown 80-grade power since his rookie season. He hit 52 home runs in 2017, establishing a since-broken rookie record.

That was just the tip of the iceberg. Since then, Judge has:

• Hit 62 home runs in 2022 to establish a new American League single-season record.Â
• Topped 50 home runs four times, including in each of the past two seasons.
• Won the Best Power category in AL Best Tools voting five times (only Mark McGwire has more first-place finishes in the Baseball America exercise, which dates back to 1988).
• Reached 300 home runs in just 955 games—the fastest pace in MLB history.

No hitter has more home runs or a higher slugging percentage than Judge since MLB resumed post-pandemic normalcy in 2021. Even more notable: In recent seasons, the 33-year-old Yankees superstar has become an 80-grade hitter.

Judge is one of three qualified hitters to carry a .300 batting average since 2021, as he trails only Luis Arraez and Freddie Freeman. Meanwhile, nobody can touch his .426 on-base percentage, either, not even Juan Soto, the king of walks.

Judge has always been selective at the plate, but in recent seasons, he has hit the ball harder and kept it off the ground at a higher rate. This has driven a high expected batting average—and a much higher actual batting average. 

Judge hit .272 through 2020, followed by a .306 mark in the five seasons since.

As an 80 hitter with 80 power, Judge has reached a level of offensive dominance seldom seen. And for his incredible season—yet another one for the ages—he is the Baseball America Major League Player of the Year.

A Lot Of Black Ink

Judge batted .331/.457/.688 with 53 home runs and 114 RBIs this season. He led with a 1.144 OPS, 9.7 bWAR and 215 OPS+. His 124 walks trailed only Soto. 

Judge might have challenged for additional counting categories had he not missed 10 games in late July with a flexor strain in his right elbow. The injury limited him to DH in August and the first half of September, which constrained his ability to add additional defensive value in right field. 

Slash Stat Triple Crown

Rarely does a hitter lead the major leagues in the three slash stats. Doing so requires a player to rack up a lot of hits, take a lot of walks and hit a lot of home runs. Only the best hitters can truly excel in all three disciplines. 

That describes Judge this season, as he led all MLB hitters in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging. That had been accomplished just five times in a non-strike-shortened season since World War II:

YearPlayerTeamPAHBBHRAVGOBPSLG1957Ted WilliamsRed Sox54716311938.388.526.7311980George BrettRoyals5151755824.390.454.6641999Larry WalkerRockies5131665737.379.458.7102002Barry BondsGiants61214919846.370.582.7992013Miguel CabreraTigers6521939044.348.442.6362025Aaron JudgeYankees67917912453.331.457.688

A Record Four 50-Homer Seasons

Despite all the historic sluggers in MLB history—and all the favorable hitting eras—reaching 50 home runs in a season is still a rare feat.

Just 11 hitters in history have multiple 50-homer seasons. Judge now has four such seasons, which ties the all-time record. He is one of just four hitters in history to hit at least 50 in four different seasons:

Babe RuthMark McGwireSammy SosaAaron Judge54 (1920)52 (1996)66 (1998)52 (2017)59 (1921)58 (1997)63 (1999)62 (2022)60 (1927)70 (1998)50 (2000)58 (2024)54 (1928)65 (1999)64 (2001)53 (2025)

Note: Ruth (1930), McGwire (1987) and Sosa (2002) all had seasons of 49 home runs, leaving them one long ball short of a fifth 50-homer season.

Best Peak Hitter Since Bonds

Baseball Reference calculates Judge as having a 215 OPS+ this season, meaning he was 115 percent more productive than the average MLB hitter after accounting for his league and home ballpark. 

Judge also produced an OPS+ greater than 200 in 2022 and 2024, his previous BA Major League Player of the Year seasons. 

Taking a step back to analyze Judge at his five-year peak from 2021 through 2025 reveals that he is in the midst of one of the most dominant stretches of hitting the game has ever seen. In the integration era, just Barry Bonds and Ted Williams were more productive over a span of five consecutive seasons.

Here’s a look at the highest OPS+ totals across a five-year span in the post-war ERA (with a minimum of 2,500 plate appearances):

SpanPlayerOPS+2000-04Barry Bonds2411999-03Barry Bonds2231998-02Barry Bonds2111954-58Ted Williams1982021-25Aaron Judge196

Judge’s inclusion is impressive, but he could actually climb even higher next year. Because Judge produced “only†a 149 OPS+ in 2021, he has a chance to improve his peak five-year stretch with a 2026 season more in line with the 209 OPS+ he produced from 2022 to 2025.

Most Productive Righthanded Hitter Ever?

Many of the hitters cited in the groupings listed above batted lefthanded, including Barry Bonds, George Brett, Babe Ruth, Larry Walker and Ted Williams. 

Lefthanded hitters bat with the platoon advantage, i.e. face righthanded pitchers, about 75 percent of the time. Righthanded hitters face the opposite situation. Judge has taken just 25 percent of his career plate appearances with the platoon advantage. 

BatterBatsOPS+Babe RuthL206Ted WilliamsL191Barry BondsL182Aaron JudgeR179Lou GehrigL179Rogers HornsbyR175Mickey MantleB172Joe JacksonL170Mike TroutR169Ty CobbL168

 

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