MLB insider reveals real reason why Cal Raleigh will win AL MVP vs. Aaron Judge

Cal Raleigh created history on Monday, reaching 50 home runs and becoming the second player since New York Yankees legend Mickey Mantle as a switch-hitter to reach the milestone. While he chases the 54-homer record, Raleight is battling another Yankees legend, Aaron Judge, for the American League MVP award this year.

Judge had a historic start to the year, hitting .355/.462/.733 with a 1.195 OPS with 81 RBIs in 96 games, and was the frontrunner for the MVP award. But he has cooled off, hitting at .195 with 12 RBIs in 25 games. In that same post-All-Star break span, Cal Raleigh has hit 25 RBIs, including 12 home runs that has made his case more compelling for the MVP award.

As per Jon Morosi on the Wyman & Bob podcast, Cal Raleigh playing one of the hardest defensive positions as the primary catcher for the Mariners is also important.

"He needs to keep doing what he's doing," Morosi said. "I think if he then gets into the 50s and home runs and the Mariners make the playoffs, it's a pretty compelling case.

"If I had a ballot in front of me right now, I would vote for Cal Raleigh. He's the reason why they're in a playoff position. He catches all those innings. It's a hard staff to catch."

Morosi reasoned that Aaron Judge's flexor strain injury, which has kept him restricted to a designated hitter role since July 25, has dampened his chances.

He referenced the 2022 season when Judge won the AL MVP with a record-setting historic 62-homer season over the two-way prowess of Shohei Ohtani, which was also because he played a challenging position like center field.

"Meanwhile, remember the key thing that's happening with Judge is he's been a DH now for a considerable amount of time, and that is part of his value," Morosi added (7:06). "A big part of the reason why when Judge was competing with Shohei Ohtani years ago, I said, "Listen, yeah, Ohtani pitches, but Judge plays center field and he's hitting 62 homers while playing center field.

"When you're playing an up-the-middle defensive position, it is simply one of the most valuable things you can do for your team. And also, the number of times that Cal is in the lineup, even if he's the DH, his durability, the reliability, the production, this is what an MVP season looks like."

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Jon Morosi says Cal Raleigh continuing to accumulate value

As per Jon Morosi, voters for the award will start taking note from the middle of September. But if Aaron Judge remains hitting as a DH, his chances will keep plummetting compared to Cal Raleigh.

"I really think you shouldn't study too hard on that until like the middle of September if you're voting on it, because I don't want to be too skewed by what happened in the first five and a half months," Morosi said.

"And this is a perfect example of why with Raleigh, if you thought for a long time it was Judge, and then all of a sudden Judge doesn't play defense anymore, it's again, it's not Aaron's fault. But the value keeps accumulating on Raleigh's side. Don't get yourself too boxed into a particular way of thinking."

Judge is dwarfing his compatriot with an impressive overall stat line of .323/.439/.667, which is at least almost 70 points ahead in each category than Raleigh's.

However, the Mariners backstop leads the American League in RBIs, 107, and of course, the MLB right now in home runs, 50.