Major League Baseball players have chosen Japanese two-way star Ohtani Shohei of the Los Angeles Angels as one of the three finalists for Player of the Year.

On Thursday, the Major League Baseball Players Association announced the three finalists in balloting for the 2022 Players Choice Awards.

Ohtani, the first Japanese to be chosen as Player of the Year in 2021, was named along with Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees and Paul Goldschmidt of the St. Louis Cardinals. Judge hit 62 homers this year, setting a new single-season American League record.

As a pitcher, Ohtani won 15 games with an earned run average of 2.33 while recording 219 strikeouts in his 5th season with the MLB. As a batter, he hit 34 homers and batted in 95 runs.

Ohtani and Judge were also chosen as the final candidates for the American League's Outstanding Player Award. The association did not announce a third candidate, saying no other player received more than five percent of the vote.

Ohtani was not named as a finalist for the Outstanding Pitcher Award.

The winners of the awards will be announced on November 3.