Aaron Judge entered the season as the favorite to win a third straight American League MVP. That will no longer happen because of a stress fracture in his first right rib.
Ben Rice has spent the first two months putting up better numbers than Judge before the captain got hurt, and is rivaling Astros star Yordan Alvarez for the top offensive performer in the game (as the only two qualified hitters with an OPS above 1.000). He will find himself in the AL MVP race if he is able to keep this up.
Cam Schlittler, in a rotation that was initially without Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón and is now missing Max Fried, has had one of the more dominant starts to the season for any pitcher in the game. He will be right in the middle of the Cy Young conversation if he stays healthy.
And yet, the Yankees’ most valuable all-around player through 67 games may well be the outfielder who was the second choice to Kyle Tucker for a sizable portion of the fan base last offseason.
