Shohei Ohtani (31) of the Los Angeles Dodgers is the top candidate for MVP in 2025. However, Aaron Judge (33) of the New York Yankees, who seemed highly likely to win the title, lost the title to another rival.
MLB.COM, the official website of Major League Baseball (MLB), announced the results of a survey on the 24th (Korea time) predicting the players who will be winners of major categories in the 2025 season. Fifty-nine experts from MLB.COM participated in the survey to predict the winners of MVP, Cy Young Award, Rookie of the Year and Coach Award.
The likely winner of the National League MVP award was "as expected." MLB.COM said, "Ohtani was still an overwhelming choice in the National League. He received more than twice as many votes as any other player," adding, "It's no surprise. Ohtani is scheduled to return to the mound this year. This means that he does not have to repeat or come close to last year's historic season of 50 homers and 50 steals."
Ohtani's combination of pitching and hitting was the decisive factor in sweeping all kinds of awards since his MLB debut. Since his MLB debut in 2018, Ohtani has given strong impression of both pitching and hitting, and won two MVP awards (2021 and 2023) starting with the Rookie of the Year award. He also threatened Judge who set a new American League home run record by filling in the regular at-bats and the regular innings in 2022. However, he underwent right elbow surgery in September 2023, and played only as a batter last year.
However, Ohtani's talent was good enough to win MVP even as a designated hitter. With a batting average of 0.310 with 54 homers, 59 steals, 130 RBIs and 134 runs, he became the first designated hitter to win MVP award, becoming the second player in the league.
Ohtani will return to pitching and hitting again this year. As such, it is highly likely that the factors of deduction that he received as a designated hitter will disappear. MLB.COM said, "It is not clear how Otani will perform as a pitcher since he started rehabilitation after right elbow surgery," but added, "It would be difficult to argue that he is not the most valuable player in the league even if he records his average personal career performance in hitting and average league performance on the mound."
Ohtani's prediction of winning the award was not surprising, but an upset occurred in the American League. Judge, who had the best right-handed hitter season ever by winning MVP last year, was overwhelmingly pushed out of the vote.
It was Bobby Witt Jr., a shortstop in the hot spot, who pushed Judge away. MLB.COM said, "Witt Jr. was the overwhelming winner of the vote. In fact, he underestimated the total number of votes. He garnered six times more votes than others." Media outlets said, "This may not be a surprise. Witt Jr. was the batting champion last year, and has performed 30 homers and 30 steals for two consecutive years. As the runner-up in last season's MVP voting, Witt Jr. is most likely to become the winner of this category in 2025. 메이저사이트
MLB.COM said, "Witt Jr.'s batting average of 0.332 211 was the best in MLB. His bWAR (contribution to victory over substitute players based on baseball reference) of 9.4 was the second highest after Judge. His OPS rose from 0.813 in 2023 to 0.977 in 2024. If this trend continues, it will be a great season for him historically."
Meanwhile, Tarik Skubal (Detroit Tigers), who won the Triple Crown last year, is expected to win the American League Cy Young Award for the second consecutive time. Paul Skins (Pittsburgh Pirates), who won the Rookie of the Year award, received more than twice as many votes, and is expected to win the first place. Jackson Jov (Detroit), a top prospect in the American League, and Roki Sasaki (Dodgers) of Japan, a top contender in the National League, were listed as nominees for the Rookie of the Year award.