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The media and baseball fans' narrative for the 2025 MLB season is clear, and two players are expected to be the best and are favorites to be MLB MVPs, Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, repeating their awards from the season that ended in October.
There's no doubt about that, however, anything can happen in a long season and not always those who are profiled end up being the best, there is also more competition with the arrival of other players to the fore such as Juan Soto with the New York Mets.
Kwan's claim that caused alarm in NY
The perspective of the players is sometimes very different, as they not only concentrate on what people see from the stands or on their television screens, but live the ball on the field, so their estimates are usually closer to what is needed to be considered valuable to the team and to the game itself.
In that vein, Cleveland Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan made a surprising statement on MLB Network Radio about who he considers could win the MVP next season, at least in the American League, and steal it from Aaron Judge.
When the show's host Greg Amsinger asked Kwan who do you consider to be the best baseball player right now, he replied without hesitation: "I'm probably biased, having seen him so often in the American League Central, but it's hard not to say that Bobby Witt Jr. is not the best player right now (...) He impacts both sides of the game, and everything he hits seems like a double from the start. I have to imagine he'll be pretty close to the top".
Bobby Witt Jr. is an American professional baseball player who plays as a shortstop and third baseman for the Kansas City Royals in Major League Baseball (MLB)
Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. came very close to competing with Aaron Judge for the trophy, thanks to his .332 average with which he won the American League batting title. He is also an elite fielder and a really outstanding base runner. As analyst Brian Kenny put it, "Witt played 161 games. He missed one day, defending skillfully, charging hard. And he was second in the American League behind Judge in slugging. He beat Juan Soto in slugging. So let's match them up now."
"However, the value of fielding runs, defense: minus three for Judge, and a plus 12 for Bobby Witt. Baserunning runs: Witt is at plus 4.5. Aaron Judge is just in the negative. That's about the league average," said Kenny, who offered strong arguments that can Kwan's claim about Witt's latent threat to Judge.