Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners has been selected the 2025 Baseball Digest/Inside Edge MLB Player of the Year. Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates has been named MLB Pitcher of the Year while Aroldis Chapman of the Boston Red Sox has been voted MLB Relief Pitcher of the Year.
Raleigh received 12 first-place votes, eight second-place votes and four third-place votes from the independently submitted ballots of a 24-member blue-ribbon panel of longtime baseball observers, which included writers, broadcasters, former players, managers and executives. Aaron Judge of the New Yankees received eight first-place votes, 13 second-place votes and three third-place votes. Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers got four first-place votes along with three second-place votes and 14 third-place votes.
This is Baseball Digest’s 57th MLB Player of the Year Award (1969-2025) and its 32nd MLB Pitcher of the Year Award (1994-2025). The MLB Relief Pitcher of the Year Award was first presented by Baseball Digest in 2012 and annually since 2015.
Cal Raleigh led MLB in home runs with 60 in 2025 and topped the American League with 125 runs batted in. His 60 home runs were the most in major-league history by a switch hitter in a single season—surpassing Mickey Mantle’s 54 for the 1961 New York Yankees—as were his 49 homers as a catcher, which surpassed Javy Lopez’ 42 for the Atlanta Braves in 2003. Raleigh became just the seventh player in major-league history to hit 60-or-more home runs in a single season, joining Babe Ruth (1927), Roger Maris (1961), Mark McGwire (1998-99), Sammy Sosa (1998-99, 2001), Barry Bonds (2001) and Aaron Judge (2022). He surpassed Ken Griffey Jr. (56 in 1997 and ’98) for the most home runs by a Seattle Mariner in a single season. He is the second Mariners player to be voted MLB Player of the Year by Baseball Digest in the 57-year history of the award, joining Alex Rodriguez (1996).
Paul Skenes led MLB with a 1.97 earned run average in 2025 and his 216 strikeouts were tied—with Philadelphia’s Jesús Luzardo—for the second-most in the National League behind only San Francisco’s Logan Webb (224). His 1.9647 earned run average over the first 55 starts of his major-league career is the third lowest since ERA became an official statistic in both leagues in 1913—behind only Al Mamaux’s 1.93 (1914-16) and Dutch Ruether’s 1.9614 (1917-20). Voted the 2024 National League Rookie of the Year by Baseball Digest, Skenes is the first Pirate to be named MLB Pitcher of the Year by the publication in the award’s 32-year history.
Aroldis Chapman tied for fifth—with Cincinnati’s Emilio Pagán—in MLB in saves in 2025 with 34, the most he has recorded in a season since 2019 with the New York Yankees (37). He was successful in each of his last 15 saves opportunities. It was Chapman’s ninth season with 30-plus saves, the most among active pitchers and tied with Joe Nathan and Billy Wagner for fourth-most all-time. Among 334 pitchers with 50.0-plus innings-pitched in 2025, Chapman ranked first in ERA (1.17), WHIP (0.701), and opponents’ batting average (.132). Chapman is the first Red Sox pitcher to be voted MLB Relief Pitcher of the Year by Baseball Digest since the award was first presented in 2012.