Steven Kwan leaves out Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani in shocking No. 1 MLB player pick

The first two names that come to mind when discussing the best player in baseball are LA Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani and New York Yankees captain Aaron Judge. However, Cleveland Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan surprised many with his pick for the No. 1 MLB player heading into the 2025 season.

During a segment on MLB Network Radio discussing Top 100 Right Now, Kwan was asked by host Greg Amsinger who he believes is the best player in baseball at the moment.

"I'm probably biased, having seen him so often in the AL Central, but it's hard not to say that Bobby Witt Jr. isn't the best player right now," Kwan said.

"He impacts both sides of the game, and everything he hits seems like a double out of the box. I have to imagine he's going to be pretty close to the top."

Kwan's pick might not have been the obvious choice, but Witt Jr. was certainly deserving of the recognition. The Kansas City Royals shortstop won the 2024 AL batting title with a .332 average and was a strong contender alongside Judge for AL MVP.

Bobby Witt Jr. received strong endorsement for MVP endorsement before voting results

While Judge ultimately won the 2024 AL MVP award unanimously, the competition between him and Witt Jr. was closer than many expected. Analyst Brian Kenny highlighted this on MLB Network just one day before the voting results were announced.

Kenny highlighted that while Judge is a below-average fielder by league standards, Witt Jr. excels in all aspects of the game.

"Aaron Judge is a below-league-average center fielder," Kenny said on MLB Network. "While he's a decent runner, he's about league average there too. Meanwhile, Bobby Witt of the Royals is an elite fielder and an elite base runner while playing shortstop."

"Witt played 161 games. He missed one day, slick-fielding, hard-charging. And he was second in the American League to Judge in slugging. He out-slugged Juan Soto. So let's match them up now."

Kenny then broke down the statistical comparison.

"Do it the same way, objective methodology. Weighted runs created plus (wRC+): Aaron Judge 218, Bobby Witt 168," Kenny said. "That's 50 points — a big gap for Aaron Judge."

"Fielding run value though, defense: negative three for Judge, and a plus 12 for Bobby Witt. Base running runs: Witt is at plus 4.5. Aaron Judge is just barely in the negative. That's about league average."

While this analysis didn't suggest that Judge was undeserving of the award, it did highlight that Witt Jr. had a much stronger case than the final voting reflected.