The American League MVP debate between Cal Raleigh and Aaron Judge will rage on for another few weeks. But for now, the Big Dumper has one major award victory over Judge.

Coming off his historic 60-homer season, Raleigh was named the Sporting News MLB Player of the Year on Friday.

The Seattle Mariners All-Star catcher received 46% of the 312 votes from players across the league. Judge, the New York Yankees slugger, finished second at 27%. Los Angeles Dodgers two-way sensation Shohei Ohtani was third at 11%.

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Raleigh is just the second catcher to win the award, joining Hall of Famer Johnny Bench in 1970. Raleigh is also just the third Mariners player to receive the honor, joining Alex Rodriguez in 1996 and Ken Griffey Jr. in 1997. Sporting News began handing out the award in 1936.

Raleigh, who compiled arguably the greatest season ever by a catcher, became just the seventh player in MLB history to reach the 60-homer mark. The 28-year-old switch hitter led the majors in home runs and finished just two shy of the AL record, which Judge set with 62 in 2022.

Along the way, Raleigh rewrote the franchise and MLB record books.

Raleigh broke the Mariners franchise record for most home runs in a season, surpassing Ken Griffey Jr.’s mark of 56 in 1997 and 1998. He broke the MLB single-season record for most homers by a switch-hitter, surpassing Mickey Mantle’s 54 in 1961. And he shattered the MLB single-season record for most homers by a catcher, surpassing Salvador Perez’s 48 in 2021.

Raleigh also slashed .247/.359/.589 with a .948 OPS and 125 RBIs. He finished third in the majors in RBIs, fourth in slugging percentage and fifth in OPS.

And he did it all while catching 121 games and logging 1,072 innings behind the plate, the latter of which was third-most in the majors. The 2024 AL Platinum Glove Award winner wasn’t charged with a passed ball all season and was in the 93rd percentile of catchers in pitch framing, according to Baseball Savant.

Raleigh’s record-setting campaign helped lead the Mariners to their first AL West title since 2001 and their first AL Championship Series appearance since 2001.

Raleigh continued his standout performance into the postseason, batting .304 with five homers, two doubles and a 1.081 OPS in 12 playoff games. He also caught all 113 innings of Seattle’s postseason run, which ended with a heartbreaking Game 7 loss in the ALCS.

Raleigh’s combined 65 home runs over the regular season and postseason are an AL record, surpassing Judge’s combined 64 homers in 2022.

The AL MVP award will be announced on Nov. 13.

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