American League MVP Futures: Aaron Judge running away with the award

While winning a World Series is the most prestigious honor in baseball, being named an MVP is the top individual award around. In the American League, New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge is a heavy favorite to take it home for the second time in his career after coming alive over the last few months. It doesn’t appear anyone is going to catch Judge, but Kansas City Royals youngster Bobby Witt Jr is also in the mix. Below, we’ll preview the AL MVP futures with two months left in the regular season.

Aaron Judge

Judge started the ‘24 campaign slow, hitting just .220 in April. Since then, the veteran has been raking. Judge is batting .325 overall with 41 home runs and 105 RBI. He leads the Majors in long balls and runs batted in. Since the All-Star Break? Judge is slashing a cool .403 with seven bombs in just 18 games. The 32-year-old is showing no signs of slowing down and looks to be in line to win his second MVP. He has -1110 odds to be named AL MVP at Sports Interaction. Sounds like a done deal, doesn’t it?

Bobby Witt Jr

The only other player even close to Judge right now is Witt Jr. The Royals shortstop is proving his worth this season, batting a league-best .346 with 22 homers and 84 RBI. Perhaps his power numbers aren’t at the level of the Yankees slugger but his ability to consistently spray the ball over the field is very impressive. I think an MVP is definitely going to be on Witt’s resume in the future, it may just be difficult to win it this year. He’ll probably be a runner-up in the voting, though. You cannot ignore the numbers and he also plays great defense at SS.

Gunnar Henderson

The Orioles have their shortstop of the future in Gunnar Henderson. The 23-year-old is showing why he’s so valuable in ‘24. Henderson has smacked 29 long balls along with 69 RBI. He’s also slashing .283. The infielder is a key part of this Baltimore squad, who are looking to make a World Series run this October. His numbers aren’t quite good enough to beat out Judge for MVP, but he has the third-best odds at most MLB betting sites.

Juan Soto

Judge’s teammate Juan Soto is showing exactly why the Yankees traded for him last offseason. Soto is tearing the cover off the baseball since the All-Star Break, hitting .351 in the second half. He’s formed an unstoppable duo with Judge, also going deep 28 times and driving in 80 runs. Soto’s best MVP finish was runner-up in 2021 when he played for the Washington Nationals.

AL MVP history

With Ohtani in the National League now, it opened up a clear door for others in the American League to win MVP, most notably Judge. Ohtani took home the award in 2023 where Judge missed substantial time due to injury. The Yankees standout won it in 2022 however when he slugged a record 62 home runs. Ohtani has captured two of the last three AL MVP awards.