The only major question was whether it would be unanimous — and it was.
Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger were named baseball’s Rookies of the Year on Monday after their record-setting home run binges eliminated any reasonable competition for the honors. Judge led the American League with 52 homers, the most ever by a rookie. Bellinger hit 39 and had to settle for the National League’s rookie record.
Judge and Bellinger received every first-place vote available from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Judge became the first Yankees player to receive this award since Derek Jeter in 1996.