Who are the best players in baseball? You’ll likely get a range of answers depending on who you ask. But when it strictly comes to the position-player side of the house, it’s hard to say anyone other than Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani.
Results of MVP Award voting in recent years back this up, too. Judge has taken home those honors three times since 2022, including each of the last two seasons. Ohtani has been named MVP four times since 2021, including each of the last three years.
The only time he didn’t win MVP during this stretch? That’d be 2022, when he came in second while with the Los Angeles Angels to… Judge.
This kind of one-player dominance hasn’t been seen since Barry Bonds, who was named National League MVP four straight years between 2001 and 2004.
How does the production from Judge and Ohtani over the past four years measure up against what Bonds did?
Editor’s Note: Looking to Sell Sports Cards? Here’s How to Do It Quickly & Easily
Revisiting Barry Bonds’ 2001-04 Dominance
In addition to those four straight NL MVP Awards, Bonds also appeared in four All-Star Games and took home four Silver Slugger Awards. But the actual numbers don’t seem real:
- 2001: .328/.515/.863 with 73 homers, 32 doubles, 137 RBI, 129 runs scored, and 177 walks
- 2002: .370/.582/.799 with 46 homers, 31 doubles, 110 RBI, 117 runs scored, and 198 walks
- 2003: .341/.529/.749 with 45 homers, 22 doubles, 90 RBI, 111 runs scored, and 148 walks
- 2004: .362/.609/.812 with 45 homers, 27 doubles, 101 RBI, 129 runs scored, and 232 (!!) walks
An average year for Bonds between 2001-04 included a .349/.559/.809 line with 52 homers, 28 doubles, 110 RBI, 148 runs scored, and 189 walks.
Even for someone who received some “extra help” by way of PEDs, there were many nights when Bonds only saw a pitch or two that he could swing at. And as we can see, he had the discipline to wait for his pitch and capitalize better than anyone else could.
Aaron Judge’s Dominance Since 2022
Here’s a year-by-year look at what the New York Yankees’ Captain has done since his AL-record 62-homer performance in 2022:
- 2022: .311/.425/.686 with 62 homers, 28 doubles, 131 RBI, 133 runs scored, and 111 walks
- 2023: .267/.406/.613 with 37 homers, 16 doubles, 75 RBI, 79 runs scored, and 88 walks
- 2024: .322/.458/.701 with 58 homers, 36 doubles, 144 RBI, 122 runs scored, and 133 walks
- 2025: .331/.457/.688 with 53 homers, 30 doubles, 114 RBI, 137 runs scored, and 124 walks
There were plenty of individual highlights during this stretch for Judge without including all the MVP Awards. He went to four All-Star Games and won three Silver Sluggers while leading the league in homers twice, RBI twice, runs scored twice, and bWAR twice.
And with those three 50-homer seasons, he’s now reached the half-century mark in taters four times during his career (he hit 52 as a rookie in 2017). He’s tied with Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa for the most 50-homer seasons in MLB history.
Despite entering his age-34 season in 2026, it feels like he’ll separate himself from them shortly.
What Shohei Ohtani Has Accomplished Since 2022
Ohtani is different from Bonds and Judge because he’s also an excellent pitcher, but let’s focus on what he can do in the batter’s box for this exercise. Here’s a look at what he’s done over the past four seasons ahead of the 2026 campaign:
- 2022: .273/.356/.519 with 34 homers, 30 doubles, 95 RBI, 90 runs scored, and 72 walks
- 2023: .304/.412/.654 with 44 homers, 26 doubles, 95 RBI, 102 runs scored, and 91 walks
- 2024: .310/.390/.646 with 54 homers, 38 doubles, 130 RBI, 134 runs scored, and 81 walks
- 2025: .282/.392/.622 with 55 homers, 25 doubles, 102 RBI, 146 runs scored, and 109 walks
Like Judge, Ohtani has also been to the All-Star Game in each of the last four seasons while winning three Silver Slugger Awards. He’s captured two single-season league home run crowns, along with being the league leader in RBI once, runs scored twice, and total bases three times.
Oh, and let’s not forget about him founding the 50-homer, 50-steal club in 2024 for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
A Side-By-Side View of Their Cumulative Numbers
With each player’s yearly domination well documented, let’s see how their cumulative numbers look next to one another. I’ve also thrown in OPS, wRC+, and fWAR so we can get a sense of overall production and how close (or not) these dudes are to each other.
Pretty eye-opening, don’t you think? It’s interesting (but not surprising) to see Judge have everyone beat in both home runs and RBI, but Bonds runs away easily when it comes to OPS, wRC+, and fWAR.
You can see that Bonds made those gains in his triple slash and recorded more hits despite getting fewer opportunities to see hittable pitches. The plate discipline numbers are where he separates himself in those final three categories to the right.
Over the past four years, Judge has produced an 18.0% walk rate with a 25.1% strikeout rate. Ohtani has drawn walks at a 13.0% clip while striking out 24.0% of the time. Bonds’ numbers in the same categories between 2001 and 2004 included a 30.9% (!) walk rate and a 9.8% (!!) strikeout rate.
I know PEDs will always be a part of Bonds’ story — and rightfully so — but, man, his plate discipline during this stretch was absolutely off the chain.
This also says a lot about Judge. Although Bonds beats him handily, it’s impressive that he’s only 10.0 fWAR behind him and also sports a wRC+ above 200. It really helps put into perspective just how special this run has been for the right-handed slugger.
Love home runs? Sign up for my Substack today and start getting interesting home run-related observations straight to your inbox! And if you’re new to MLB Daily Dingers, it’s probably best to start here.
