Major League Baseball award season came to a close with the announcement of the MVP award winners Thursday.
St. Louis Cardinals slugger Paul Goldschmidt took home the National League MVP, and New York Yankees star Aaron Judge collected hardware for the American League.
The winners were decided by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. There were 30 voters who had to rank 10 players. Judge received 28 first-place votes, and Los Angeles Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani collected two first-place votes.
The Boston Red Sox had some representation on voters’ ballots. Shortstop Xander Bogaerts finished ninth in MVP voting with 50 points. The highest-ranked vote the free agent received was one fourth-place vote. Third baseman Rafael Devers finished 14th in MVP voting with 10 points, and the 26-year-old’s highest-ranked vote was one seventh-place vote.
Bogaerts finishing in the top 10 shouldn’t be that much of a surprise. The 30-year-old was third in the AL in batting average at .307 and earned his fifth Silver Slugger award this past season for his offensive output.
As for Devers, the All-Star third baseman was fourth in OPS at .879 and fourth in doubles with 42.
The pair of All-Stars will be at the top of the mind for the Red Sox front office this offseason. Boston has stated Bogaerts is its top option at shortstop and hope to re-sign the 30-year-old, and the Red Sox are in extension talks with Devers.
