Despite the 2022 Major League Baseball season being over since November, Aaron Judge isn’t quite finished adding to his résumé. In fact, the New York Yankees slugger will have to make even more room in his trophy case.
After Judge became the American League home run champ and earned AL MVP honors, the Yankees rewarded him with a nine-year extension worth $360 million. On Friday, the star outfielder was named Male Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press.
As one could imagine, Judge’s record-breaking 62 homers played a part in being selected by a panel of 40 writers and editors. He also joins an exclusive list of Yankees alumni — Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris — to have won the award.
“Wow. That’s incredible,” Judge told the AP, according to ESPN. “All these other great athletes that not only impacted the game and their sport, but also impacted their communities and the culture in the sports world and outside the sports world. So getting a chance to be amongst that list is an incredible honor.”
Judge, 30, batted .311/.425/.686 with 177 base hits and 131 RBIs in 157 games played. He also led the MLB in offensive WAR (10.4), which earned him a Silver Slugger and All-MLB First team award recognition.
His 62 moon shots were good enough to mark a 16-homer gap between him and the runner-up (Kyle Schwarber, 46). That was the largest gap since Jamie Foxx blasted 58 with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1932 and Babe Ruth finished second with 41 for the Yankees.
After the Yankees retained Judge on a long-term agreement, they named him the 16th captain in franchise history. At the start of the 2023 season, Judge will be the first Yankees captain since franchise great and Hall of Famer Derek Jeter.
All that’s left is for Judge to lead the Yankees to the promised land. New York fell short in their October hunt after the Houston Astros defeated them in the AL Championship Series. That increased their World Series drought to 13 seasons.
Alongside Judge, Olympic gold medalist swimmer Katie Ledecky was named Female Athlete of the Year for the second time.
