2023 Kevin Mitchell Award winner: Aaron Judge

Aaron Judge and Mike Trout shared the 2023 home run crown but it was Judge who outdistanced a crowded field to secure the Kevin Mitchell Award all to himself.

Judge, 31, earned 7 1st place votes and was the only player to appear on all 9 ballots cast by the DMBL's 20 owners. Each ballot has six players, with a point system of 10-7-5-3-2-1.

It's the second Mitch Award in franchise history for Sardine City. In 2020, Christian Yelich also earned 7 of 9 1st place votes cast. It's also the 2nd 2023 honor for the franchise. The Straphangers also boast the Dennis Eckersley Award winner, Daniel Bard, as the DMBL's top reliever in 2023.

While Judge finished 1st by a wide margin among 15 who received votes, there was a bunch-up among the next 4 finishers all of whom garnered more than 30 points each.

	KEVIN MITCHELL AWARD	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	PTS
1	Aaron Judge, SCS	7	0	0	1	1	0	75
2	Mike Trout, ALN	0	4	1	2	0	1	40
3	Mookie Betts, LIV	0	2	4	1	1	0	39
4	Paul Goldschmidt, LIV	1	2	1	1	1	1	35
5	Jeff McNeil, ERI	1	1	1	2	1	1	31
6	Francisco Lindor, ERI	0	0	0	0	2	2	6
7	Yandy Diaz, ERI	0	0	1	0	0	0	5
-	Salvador Perez, ARK	0	0	1	0	0	0	5
9	Jose Altuve, TUC	0	0	0	1	0	1	4
10	Brendan Donovan, ARK*	0	0	0	1	0	0	3
11	Nolan Arenado, TUC	0	0	0	0	1	0	2
-	Juan Soto, LIV	0	0	0	0	1	0	2
-	Alex Bregman, EP/ERI	0	0	0	0	1	0	2
14	Michael Harris II, HBK*	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
-	Jorge Polanco, HBK	0	0	0	0	0	1	1

*rookie

Mike Trout, who besides Barry Bonds is the only 3-time Mitch honoree (2013, 2018 and 2019 Mitch winner) returned to prominence with his best finish since 2020 when he was 3rd in voting. After a couple of injury-plagued seasons, he was a distant 2nd with 40 points, on the strength of 4 2nd-place ballots, the most of any receiving votes, along with 1 3rd, 2 4ths and a 6th place nod. He appeared on 8 of the 9 ballots submitted and led a clear 2nd-tier of candidates who garnered 30+ points.

Livingston's Mookie Betts was right behind Trout with 39 points, and also appearing on 8 of 9 ballots. The diminutive star received 2 2nd place votes and a high of 4 3rd place ballots in addition to a 4th and a 5th. Teammate Paul Goldschmidt saw support across the ballot, receiving 1 vote of each kind, including a 1st, and 2 2nds to finish 4th with 35 points. Erie's Jeff McNeil received the other 1st place vote. He ranked 5th with 31 points, also getting 1 vote of each + an extra 4th-place vote.

It was a long tumble from there but Francisco Lindor of Erie at least can say he was the only other player to appear on more than 2 ballots. He finished 6th with 6 points thanks to 2 5th place votes and 2 6th place ballots. Tucson's Joe Altuve managed to pick up 2 votes, a 4th and a 6th, finishing 9th with 4 points.

The rest of the field comprised 9 candidates who got anywhere from a 3rd to 6th place vote. Erie's Yandy Diaz and Salvador Perez of Arkansas each received a 3rd place vote, notching a tie for 7th with 5 points. Behind Altuve was a head-scratcher in Brendan Donovan. The Arkansas rookie managed a 4th place vote for a 10th place finish with 3 points.

Nolan Arenado of Tucson, Livingston's Juan Soto and Alex Bregman of El Paso/Erie each nabbed 2 points and an 11th place finish thanks to a single 5th place vote. Bringing up the rear were two Hoboken Cutters who each received a 6th place vote for 1 point: rookie Michael Harris II and Jorge Polanco.

For those unfamiliar with Diaz (.282/.374/.370), his 9 HR and 66 RBI in 162 games may seem paltry but he helped pace the Erie offense, scoring 95 runs. He led the league in plate appearances (766), finished 6th in hits (187), and tied for 4th in OBP (.374) and 5th in walks (87). He was among five Sea Wolves who finished the year atop OBP vR leaguewide, matching McNeil for No. 1 (.398). The five were McNeil, Diaz, Alejandro Kirk, Steven Kwan and Bregman, acquired at the deadline from El Paso.

As for Donovan (.255/.371/.319), support for his candidacy is anyone's guess, perhaps alcohol was involved, but a league investigation could be at hand. He didn't garner any attention in Listach Award voting after the 1st round pick played in 139 games for Arkansas, primarily at 2B (166) with a taste of RF (23). The highlight of his stat sheet was his .371 OBP, 1st among rookies and tied for 7th in DMBL. He tied for 4th in DMBL in HBP (20) and 5th in strikeout/walk ratio (1.2) - not exactly Listach or Mitchell worthy categories.