Yankees star Aaron Judge up for Best Male Athlete at ESPYs after breaking AL home run record – The Denver Post

All Rise at the ESPYs!

Yankees captain Aaron Judge has been nominated for Best Male Athlete, ESPN announced Wednesday.

The hulking slugger broke Roger Maris’ American League single-season home run record last season blasting 62 on his way to winning American League MVP honors. Judge, 6-7, capitalized on his monster campaign by inking a nine-year, $360 million contract this winter and was also named the franchise’s first captain since Derek Jeter retired.

Judge will battle it out with recently-crowned NBA Finals MVP Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and World Cup winner Lionel Messi for the award handed out by the World Wide Leader.

The career Bomber smacked the final two homers of his epic chase on the road. His 61st came at Rogers Centre in Toronto against the Blue Jays on Sept. 28. Then, he smoked his record-breaking 62nd at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas on Oct 4 just days before the season came to an end.

“It’s a big relief. I think that everyone can sit back down in their seats and watch the ballgame, you know? No, but it’s been a fun ride so far,” Judge said after breaking the record that Maris — a fellow Yankee — held since 1961. “Getting a chance to do this, with the team we’ve got, the guys surrounding me, the constant support from my family whose been with me through this whole thing … it’s been a great honor.”

It’s the outfielder’s first nomination for the ESPN award that will be given out on July 12 at Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles. Fan voting is open now for the ESPYS which take place during the MLB All-Star break.

Ironically, Angels’ two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani is the reigning Best Male Athlete of the Year, the player that Judge battled it out with for the 2022 AL MVP last season. Judge slashed .311/.425/.686 in arguably one of the greatest offensive seasons in MLB history.

Before Ohtani, the last baseball player to win the award was Mark McGuire in 1999 after he was the first player to surpass Maris’ 61 home run mark blasting 70 in the 1998 season at the height of baseball’s steroids era.

Despite keeping baseball fans on the edge of their seats last fall by shattering a 61-year-old record, Judge is not up for best record-breaking performance. Those nominees are Novak Djokovic for his 23rd Grand Slam title, LeBron James for surpassing Kareem-Abdul Jabbar on the all-time NBA scoring list, Mikaela Shiffrin for most World Cup victories and Max Verstappen for winning the Mexican Grand Prix and breaking the record for most wins in a season.

Judge is not the only Big Apple baseball player to be nominated for an award as Mets’ ace Justin Verlander is also up for Best Comeback Athlete. Verlander returned last season after missing all of 2021 following Tommy John surgery. The future Hall of Famer posted a 1.75 ERA for the Astros in 2022 winning his third-career Cy Young. He then signed a two-year, $86 million deal with the Amazin’s.

Judge, Ohtani and Verlander are all up for Best MLB Player along with Paul Goldschmidt of the St. Louis Cardinals.

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