Baseball: Ohtani named among 3 finalists for American League MVP

Los Angeles Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani was named a finalist for this season's American League MVP award on Monday along with New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge and Houston Astros big hitter Yordan Alvarez.

The two-way star last year became only the second Japanese to win the award, joining Ichiro Suzuki who won in 2001 while playing for the Seattle Mariners. Judge is seen as the favorite this year after hitting an AL record 62 home runs, eclipsing Roger Maris' 61 from 1961.

Ohtani this season became the first player since Babe Ruth in 1918 to have at least 10 wins as a pitcher and 10 home runs as a hitter in the same season, and first to qualify for both pitching and batting leaderboards in the World Series era.

Ohtani earned an MLB career-high 15 wins with a 2.33 ERA on the mound while batting .273 with 34 home runs and 95 RBIs.

The winner for each league will be announced on Nov. 17 after a vote by eligible Baseball Writers' Association of America members.

Ohtani was not on the three-man list for the AL Cy Young Award for the league's best pitcher.

Angels general manager Perry Minasian, meanwhile, clarified that the club is not going to trade Ohtani in the offseason.

"He's such a special player, we're not moving him. Ohtani is not getting moved," Minasian told reporters at the annual general managers meetings in Las Vegas. "He'll be with us to start the season."

Ohtani in October signed a one-year deal worth $30 million for 2023 and will be a free agent after the next season. Ohtani's future could be impacted by Angels owner Arte Moreno's possible sale of the club.

© Kyodo News