The right answer is Aaron Judge.
But before Yankees fans get annoyed that I was seriously considering Cal Raleigh for first-half AL MVP — and the first half of the schedule did complete this week with every team reaching 81 games — then here is my question:
How would you feel if Raleigh were doing this for the Yankees and Judge for the Mariners? In other words, what if the Yankees had a switch-hitting catcher — emphasis on catcher — who was leading the league in homers, and somehow Yankee Stadium was transformed from one of the easiest places to clear a fence to the toughest (hello T-Mobile Park), and the player was an elite defender at the most important position on the field — did I mention he is a catcher? My suspicion is if Raleigh was doing all of that in pinstripes rather than off-the-beaten baseball path in Seattle, you, Yankees fans, would be screaming he, and not Judge, should be the first-half AL MVP.
And maybe he is. I just think that no stat or metric completely honors what it means to be able to provide high-end offense with the drudgery of catcher — just consider the bat was supposed to be the carrying tool for both Francisco Alvarez and Austin Wells, and look how they have struggled under the weight of all that a catcher is asked to do.
