Aaron Judge: What makes him the one to watch in 2025 MLB season

Aaron Judge is firmly in the spotlight ahead of Opening Day. It is likely that he will remain so up to and through the season, as he's one of the faces of baseball and the reigning AL MVP.

Until Opening Day, Sportskeeda is going to take a look at some featured players, examining what they've done in the past as well as offering some predictions for how they'll do in 2025. Judge comes in as the next player to analyze.

Judge was an absolute star for the New York Yankees last year, and they remain the only team he's played for so far in his MLB career. He won his second MVP on the back of a historic season.

He hit 58 home runs and had 144 RBIs. Hitting behind Juan Soto helped the latter's total, but he also hit .322 with a stunning 1.159 OPS. He slugged .701 and had an astonishing 11.2 fWAR, one of just two players to hit double digits in that metric.

Judge also had a career-best 218 wRC+, a number that slots in 10th all-time. It's the highest since the 1950s excluding Barry Bonds. His defense suffered in center field, but he was still the most valuable, by fWAR, player in the entire sport last year.

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Predicting Aaron Judge's MVP defense in 2025

Aaron Judge started out so slow last year that many suspected an age-related decline might have been kicking in. He is 32 and will be 33 shortly after Opening Day. Still, he rebounded so well that there's no reason to think he can't have another excellent season.

Fangraphs projects as much. They expect 48 home runs and 117 RBIs. They also project a 170 wRC+ and an impressive 7.3 fWAR. The projections are notoriously conservative, so these numbers are very inspiring.

Aaron Judge is in for another strong year (Imagn)

Judge won't have as many RBI chances with Juan Soto going to the New York Mets. However, he will have some protection from Cody Bellinger and a revitalized Giancarlo Stanton behind him. The lineup is deeper, and that should help the best player.

Whether or not he bats second or third this year, Judge is likely going to produce like few others in baseball can. A move back to right field might help, since he won't have as much defensive responsibility and won't have as much wear and tear.

Our prediction: Judge dominates once again with a .301 batting average, 50 home runs, 119 RBIs and a 191 wRC+. The stronger defense in right field helps lead to another good fWAR of 9.8.