Yankees’ Aaron Judge Selected as MLB Player of the Year;
Mets’ Edwin Díaz Voted MLB Relief Pitcher of the Year
Thursday, October 13, 2022 – Sandy Alcantara of the Miami Marlins has been selected as the 2022 Baseball Digest/eBay MLB Pitcher of the Year. Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees has been voted MLB Player of the Year while Edwin Díaz of the New York Mets has been named MLB Relief Pitcher of the Year.
Alcantara received 14 first-place votes from the independently-submitted ballots of a 22-member “blue-ribbon” panel of longtime baseball observers, which included writers, broadcasters, former players, managers and executives. Houston’s Justin Verlander received eight first-place votes.
This is Baseball Digest’s 54th MLB Player of the Year award (1969-2022) and its 29th MLB Pitcher of the Year award (1994-2022). MLB Relief Pitcher of the Year was first awarded by Baseball Digest in 2012 and annually since 2014.
Alcantara compiled a 14-9 record and a 2.28 ERA in 32 starts in 2022 and pitched deeper into games than any other pitcher in baseball. The 27-year-old right-hander led the major leagues in innings pitched (228.2) and complete games (six) and worked at least 8.0 innings in 14 of his starts—the most by any MLB pitcher since 2014. Alcantara’s ERA was the second-lowest in Marlins’ history (behind Kevin Brown’s 1.89 in 1995) and in the National League in 2022 (behind LA’s Julio Urías – 2.16) as he held opponents to two earned runs or less in 25 of his starts. He pitched more than 200 innings and struck out more than 200 batters (207) for the second straight year and limited the opposition to a .212 batting average. Alcantara is the second member of the Marlins’ franchise to be named MLB Pitcher of the Year by Baseball Digest, joining Dontrelle Willis, who was honored in 2005.
Judge established a new American League record by hitting 62 home runs in 2022, breaking Roger Maris’ mark of 61 that had stood since 1961. The Yankees’ slugger led the majors in that category as well as in runs scored (133), on-base percentage (.425), slugging percentage (.686), OPS (1.111), extra-base hits (90), and total bases (391). Judge also tied Pete Alonso of the Mets for the most RBI in MLB (131) and was runner-up for the A.L. batting title (.311) to Minnesota’s Luis Arraez (.316). Baseball Digest’s 2017 American League Rookie of the Year, Judge is the third Yankees’ player to be named MLB Player of the Year in the award’s 54-year history (1969-2022), joining Ron Guidry (1978) and Derek Jeter 2006).
Díaz went 3-1 with 32 saves and a 1.31 ERA in 61 relief appearances during the 2022 season. In 62.0 innings of work, he allowed only 34 hits while walking 18 batters, striking out 118, and limiting the opposition to a .160 batting average. His 32 saves came in 35 opportunities (.914 success rate), and he struck out a remarkable 50.2 percent of the hitters he faced (118 of 235). In addition, Díaz led all MLB relief pitchers in strikeouts and his SO/9 rate of 17.13 was the best among qualified relievers. Díaz is the first Mets’ pitcher to be named MLB Relief Pitcher of the Year in the award’s 10-year history (2012, 2014-22).
Baseball Digest’s November-December 2022 issue hits newsstands on Monday, November 1.
| 2022 MLB PITCHER OF THE YEAR, VOTE TOTALS | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Total |
| Sandy Alcantara, Miami Marlins | 14 (42) | 6 (12) | 0 (0) | 54 |
| Justin Verlander, Houston Astros | 8 (24) | 8 (16) | 5 (5) | 45 |
| Dylan Cease, Chicago White Sox | 0 (0) | 2 (4) | 6 (6) | 10 |
| Julio Urías, Los Angeles Dodgers | 0 (0) | 3 (6) | 4 (4) | 10 |
| Alek Manoah, Toronto Blue Jays | 0 (0) | 1 (2) | 3 (3) | 5 |
| Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Angels | 0 (0) | 1 (2) | 1 (1) | 3 |
| Framber Valdez, Houston Astros | 0 (0) | 1 (2) | 0 (0) | 2 |
| Nestor Cortes, New York Yankees | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 1 (1) | 1 |
| Max Fried, Atlanta Braves | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 1 (1) | 1 |
| Zac Gallen, Arizona Diamondbacks | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 1 (1) | 1 |
| 2022 MLB PLAYER OF THE YEAR, VOTE TOTALS | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Total |
| Aaron Judge, New York Yankees | 18 (54) | 4 (8) | 0 (0) | 62 |
| Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Angels | 4 (12) | 16 (32) | 1 (1) | 45 |
| Paul Goldschmidt, St. Louis Cardinals | 0 0) | 2 (4) | 17 (17) | 21 |
| Nolan Arenado, St. Louis Cardinals | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 1 (1) | 1 |
| Freddie Freeman, Los Angeles Dodgers | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 1 (1) | 1 |
| José Ramirez, Cleveland Guardians | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 1 (1) | 1 |
| Austin Riley, Atlanta Braves | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 1 (1) | 1 |
| 2022 MLB RELIEF PITCHER OF THE YEAR, VOTE TOTALS | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Total |
| Edwin Díaz, New York Mets | 17 (51) | 2 (4) | 0 (0) | 55 |
| Emmanuel Clase, Cleveland Guardians | 5 (15) | 14 (28) | 2 (2) | 45 |
| Ryan Helsley, St. Louis Cardinals | 0 (0) | 1 (2) | 7 (7) | 9 |
| Devin Williams, Milwaukee Brewers | 0 (0) | 2 (4) | 3 (3) | 7 |
| Jordan Romano, Toronto Blue Jays | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 5 (5) | 5 |
| Daniel Bard, Colorado Rockies | 0 (0) | 1 (2) | 1 (1) | 3 |
| Kenley Jansen, Atlanta Braves | 0 (0) | 1 (2) | 1 (1) | 3 |
| Ryne Stanek, Houston Astros | 0 (0) | 1 (2) | 1 (1) | 3 |
| Jhoan Durán, Minnesota Twins | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 1 (1) | 1 |
| Paul Sewald, Seattle Mariners | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 1 (1) | 1 |
Votes were tabulated on a three-points-for-first-place, two-points-for-second-place and one-point-for-third-place basis.
| Baseball Digest’s 2022 Voting Panel |
| Greg Amsinger, MLB Network Host; Matt Baker, MLB Network researcher; Ned Colletti, former MLB general manager; Bob Costas, MLB Network host and play-by-play announcer; Mark DeRosa, MLB Network host and former MLB player; Jim Duquette, SiriusXM host and former MLB general manager; Mike Fitzpatrick, Associated Press, BBWAA; Cliff Floyd, MLB Network analyst and former MLB player; Alyson Footer, MLB.com, BBWAA; Brian Kenny, MLB Network host; John Labombarda, Elias Sports Bureau, BBWAA; Bill Madden, New York Daily News, BBWAA; Joe Maddon, former MLB manager; Sean McAdam, Boston Sports Journal, BBWAA; Scott Miller, BBWAA; La Velle Neal III, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, BBWAA; Eduardo Perez, SiriusXM host, ESPN Sunday Night Baseball announcer and former MLB player; Steve Phillips, SiriusXM host and former MLB general manager; Karl Ravech, ESPN Sunday Night Baseball announcer and ESPN Host; Tracy Ringolsby, BBWAA; Alanna Rizzo, MLB Network host; Christopher Russo, SiriusXM and MLB Network host. |
