Jose Altuve Runs Away with AL MVP over Aaron Judge

Courtesy of MLB.com

Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve won the World Series two weeks ago and is now crowned the Most Valuable Player in the American League. On paper, the matchup could've been close, but Altuve ran away with the vote, garnering 27 of 30 first-place votes, to Aaron Judge's two.

The win caps off a career-best season for the Venezuelan infielder. Altuve had great statistics with a .346 batting average (career-high), 24 home runs (ties career-high) and 81 RBI, along with 112 runs scored (another career-high) and 32 stolen bases on 38 attempts.

Of course, rookie Aaron Judge also had an astronomical rookie season. Judge hit .284 with 52 home runs and 114 RBI for the New York Yankees, leading them to a postseason berth in what started out as a "rebuilding year." Despite his lower average and higher strikeout rate, Judge led Altuve in in on-base percentage (.422 to .410) and obviously slugging percentage (.627 to .547)

Aaron Judge also has a huge lead in one category: height. (Courtesy of Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle)

Other edges for Altuve include his infield defense and the Astros superior record. Of course, their World Series win is not taken into account as this is a regular season award.

Judge won AL Rookie of the Year and finished 2nd in AL MVP Voting. Though 2nd is never good enough for Yankees fans, they have a great player on their hands for a long time with Aaron Judge.

Jose Ramirez of the Cleveland Indians finished 3rd with the remaining first-place vote. Mike Trout finished 4th with 6 third-place votes.

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