2020 Ryan Tepera may have just been dethroned as the most obscure MLB player to receive an MVP vote.
On Thursday, New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge was named the unanimous American League Most Valuable Player for the 2024 season. Judge earned all 30 first-place votes to secure the second MVP award of his big-league career.
While Judge’s MVP victory was very much expected, what was not expected was the player who received a 10th-place vote for AL MVP — Tyler Holton of the Detroit Tigers! Check out the full voting results below.
Here are the AL MVP vote totals pic.twitter.com/c29K0VFstd
— BBWAA (@officialBBWAA) November 21, 2024
Tyler Holton is not the name of a Canadian restaurant chain but rather of a lefty reliever for the Tigers. He had a strong 2024 campaign, posting a 2.19 ERA with a 0.78 WHIP while pitching as a middle reliever, a setup man, and even as a closer (eight saves in eight opportunities).
While those were very respectable numbers for a solid playoff team in the Tigers, it is still a major stretch to suggest that Holton was one of the 10 best performers (pitchers or position players) in the entire AL this season. But one voter (apparently Mike Wilner of the Toronto Star) clearly thought so.
There was also a similar doozy when it came to this year’s voting results for AL Rookie of the Year.
