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Revisiting the 2017 AL MVP: Judge Or Altuve? A thread.
We all know of the infamous Astros sign stealing scandal. But according to this one researcher who took the time, Altuve was one of the players who utilized the method the least.
In 2017, Altuve was a phenomenal offensive player for the Astros. He boasted a 160 WRC+, meaning he was a 60% better than league average hitter. He had a .405 wOBA, very much above league average.
His ISO (isolated power) was categorized as great by FanGraphs, coming in at .202. This stat shows how well a player hits for power. Mr. Altuve is more of a singles and doubles guy but can certainly slug it.
Altuve had an average walk rate, walking in about 8.8% of his PAs. He barely struck out with a K rate of 12.7%.
Aaron Judge in his rookie year was phenomenal. He was 74% above league average with a 174 WRC+. He had a .430 wOBA, .343 ISO, and a 18.7 % walk rate, all well above average. His K rate was very below average but it was made up for with his power.
Judge was a pretty average base runner with about 0.5 UBR and -0.4 wSB, both stats used to measure base running skills.
Altuve was great on the base paths with 3.4 wSB and 1.2 UBR.
Judge was a good fielder for the Yankees, he had 8.4 UZR and 8 DRS, both above average.
Altuve was a below average fielder at -4.2 UZR and -1 DRS. Don’t take this too much into account, however, as one plays outfield and one plays 2B.
Both players were great in 2017 regardless of scandals. Judge outplayed Altuve on both ends if you look at more advanced metrics, but they are two very good players.
It looks like Judge deserved MVP, but it’s no use to harp on it. Appreciate both of them while you can. Thanks for reading this! RTS appreciated. 
