HR king Judge wins AL's Hank Aaron Award

NEW YORK -- Aaron Judge’s remarkable season has earned another accolade. The American League’s new home run king was honored Wednesday with the Hank Aaron Award, recognizing the most outstanding offensive performer in each league.

The Cardinals’ Paul Goldschmidt brought home the National League’s Aaron Award. Winners were announced on MLB Network during a live show presentation featuring Judge, Goldschmidt, Mrs. Billye Aaron and Commissioner Robert D. Manfred Jr.

“It’s an honor getting voted for this award, all the Hall of Famers and fans that voted,” Judge said on MLB Network. “This is definitely an incredible honor, getting a chance to honor Hank and be a part of the wonderful list of guys who have won this award. It’s something special.”

Currently a free agent, the 30-year-old Judge established a new single-season AL record by slugging 62 home runs, eclipsing a 61-year-old mark set by Roger Maris, another Yankees right fielder.

? All-time winners

In the hunt for a Triple Crown until the season’s last day, Judge led the Majors in homers, runs (133), RBIs (131), slugging percentage (.686), on-base percentage (.425), OPS+ (211) and total bases (391). Judge led the Majors in homers by 16 round-trippers, the largest gap since the Athletics’ Jimmie Foxx paced the field by 17 blasts in 1932.

“Throughout the whole season, when you’re playing every single day, I’m just locked in on what I’ve got to do today,” Judge said. “I show up to the field, prepare and get ready for the game. No matter what happens, once the game is over with, I’ve got to flush it and move on and get ready for the next one. It really didn’t start to hit me until we started creeping up into the high 50s later in the season that this is something we’d be able to do.”

? Watch all 62 of Judge's 2022 home runs

He had the highest WAR on FanGraphs (11.4) and Baseball-Reference (10.6). Over the past 65 years, only Barry Bonds recorded a loftier single-season wRC+ than Judge’s 207. Judge finished five percentage points behind the Twins’ Luis Arraez in batting average (.316 to .311), the only hurdle that kept Judge from claiming an AL Triple Crown.

“One thing that helped me eventually reach [62] was just having my teammates around me and constantly push me and just take it one day at a time,” Judge said. “I never tried to focus on hitting home runs. I just tried to focus on, ‘Hey, how can I help the team win?’ If I go out there and do my job, the home runs will come. It was definitely pretty wild and a little surreal.”

Two previous Yankees have won the Aaron Award, which was first issued in 1999. Derek Jeter won in 2006, Alex Rodriguez won in 2007 and Jeter won again in ’09.

Additionally, Giancarlo Stanton (2014, ’17), Josh Donaldson (2015) and A-Rod (’01-’03) won the Aaron Award in other uniforms. Of the previous 46 winners, 22 were named their respective league’s MVP that same year.

Each club nominated players to be considered for the Aaron Award, with a panel of MLB.com writers determining eight finalists for each league.

A fan vote is added to the votes of a special panel of Hall of Fame players to determine the winners of the award, which is officially sanctioned by Major League Baseball. The panel includes Ken Griffey Jr., Chipper Jones, Pedro Martínez, John Smoltz, Johnny Bench, Craig Biggio, Eddie Murray and Robin Yount.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has said that the organization hopes to re-sign Judge, who turned down a seven-year, $213.5 million extension on Opening Day.

“It was tough in the beginning, definitely in April when I think it took me two weeks to get my first home run,” Judge said. “There’s a little doubt that creeps into your mind about it and you’re sitting in the outfield kicking yourself, like, ‘Man, maybe I should have taken that deal.’

“After a couple of weeks, I kind of just talked with my teammates, talked with my family and cleared all that. Go out there and play, and just be yourself and everything’s going to work out the way it’s supposed to. It’s out of your hands, out of your control. Just have your faith to go out there and play your game.”