The MVP is a catcher?

The ALDS is now playing and attracting many eyes around the world. On one side, Aaron Judge and the Yankees play against the Blue Jays. On the other side, Cal Raleigh and the Mariners are playing against the Tigers.

 

Judge and Raleigh each finished the 2025 regular season outstandingly. Aaron Judge played 152 games, hitting .331/.457/.688 with 53 home runs and 114 RBI. At the same time, Cal Raleigh was selected to the All-Star game for the first time in his career. In 2025, he played 159 games, slashing .247/.359/.589 with 60 home runs and 125 RBI. 60 home runs, that truly looks amazing.

 

There are some debates whether the AL MVP award should go to Judge or Raleigh. Well, many of us are not eligible to vote. However, we can take a look at the MVP award winners over the last several seasons to see whether many MVP award winners are catchers just like Cal Raleigh.

 

Taking a closer look, the most recent catcher who won the MVP award was Buster Posey. Posey won the 2012 NL MVP award. Back in 2012, he played 148 games for the Giants, hitting .336/.408/.549 with 24 home runs and 103 RBI.

 

In addition, Joe Mauer won the AL MVP award in 2009. Back then, he played 138 games for the Twins, slashing .365/.444/.587 with 28 home runs and 96 RBI. A batting average of .365 looks truly amazing.

 

Moreover, Ivan Rodriguez won the AL MVP award in 1999. Back then, he played for the Rangers, hitting .332/.356/.558 with 35 home runs and 113 RBI over 144 games. 30+ home runs and 100+ RBI aren’t easy for any players.

 

Finally, the other MVP award winners, who were catchers, were all playing before 1980. For example, Thurman Munson won the AL MVP award in 1976. Johnny Bench won the NL MVP award twice. The first one was in 1970 and the other was in 1972. Roy Campanella won the NL MVP award 3 times when he played for the Dodgers. The first one was in 1951, the second one was in 1953 and the other was in 1955.

As we can see, from 1999 to 2024, only 3 MVP award winners are catchers. And taking a closer look at their stats, they each owned a batting average over .300 in the year when they won the MVP awards. Ivan Rodriguez and Buster Posey each collected 100+ RBI in the year when they won the awards. However, Ivan Rodriguez was the only player who blasted 30+ home runs in the season that he won the AL MVP award. Hence, looking at Cal Raleigh’s stats, his batting average is below .250, that’s certainly a disadvantage. Nonetheless, he blasted 60 home runs in 2025 and collected 125 RBI. Those numbers are truly outstanding. Well, we still don’t know the results of the MVP award voting and it’s hard to tell if Raleigh will win the MVP award just as Posey or Mauer did this century. Nonetheless, we can keep watching October baseball to see if Judge and Raleigh can hit well in the ALDS.