"Honored and humbled" - Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani express gratitude after winning 2024 AL, NL Hank Aaron Awards
The 2024 MLB Awards week continued on Thursday with the All-MLB Awards, which also revealed the winners of the Hank Aaron Award, given to the best offensive performers in each league.
New York Yankees captain Aaron Judge won the prestigious award in the American League, while Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani bagged the honor in the National League this year.
Judge delivered one of the most productive offensive seasons after hitting 50+ home runs for the third time in his career. The Yankees captain batted .322/.458/.701 with a mind-boggling 223 OPS+, including 58 homers and 144 RBIs. Judge also led the MLB with 133 walks, 20 being intentional.
Judge was not present for the All-MLB Awards ceremony at the Chelsea Theater in Las Vegas, Nevada. But he shared a video message stating his gratitude for receiving the award.
"Hello Las Vegas, I wish I could be there with you there tonight," Judge said. "But I am honored and humbled to accept the American League Hank Aaron Award. Hank was one of the greatest hitters of all time. To be mentioned in the same breath and the same sentence is truly an incredible accomplishment that I do not take lightly."
"So, I just want to say thank you," he added. "Thank you [to] all the fans, all the voters, for your support. And I wish you guys the best."
Shohei Ohtani claimed the award after an outstanding first season with the Dodgers. The Japanese two-way superstar had the best offensive season of his career after posting the first 50-50 season in major league history. Ohtani batted .310/.390/.646 in the regular season with 54 home runs, 130 RBIs and 59 stolen bases.
Ohtani was also absent for the ceremony in Vegas but offered a video message in response to winning the award.
"Thank you," Ohtani said in his native language. "It's an honor to win the award named after the legendary Hank Aaron. My deep appreciation and gratitude goes out to all the fans and Hall of Famers who voted for me. Your support means everything to me. See you in 2025."
Multiple Hank Aaron Awards for Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani
Each of the 30 MLB teams is allowed one nomination for the Hank Aaron Award, with the finalists being decided by a panel of writers from MLB.com. Fan vote is also included along with the votes from a select panel of Hall of Fame players and former winners of the award.
This is the second occasion that Aaron Judge has received the award. He had also claimed the honor in 2022 after he smashed 62 home runs to break the AL single-season record.
This was the second time that Shohei Ohtani won the Hank Aaron Award, having earned the honor last year. He also won the Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award for the fourth consecutive year.