Aaron Judge possibly lost the AL MVP with his early second-half swoon, yet probably elevated his career.

As trade-offs go, that is pretty darn good.

Judge has regained traction in the MVP debate — notably against Houston’s Jose Altuve — by putting together an auspicious September to rival or outdo anything he accomplished in a star-turn first half.

But the value of what Judge is doing now is not to be found in hardware — as wonderful as an MVP is. It is that he has battled back yet again from a low so low that you wondered if it was defining him. The key word in that sentence is, “again.”

Judge has now twice raised wonder if he has the goods to be a sustained impact hitter. And twice now he has answered emphatically, dramatically and historically. One time could be a fluke. But this second counterpunch to a free fall accentuates that Judge has the mental and physical adeptness and adaptability to weather bad times and come out on the other side. It is like getting a second source on a story: It validates the information you have in a stronger way.

“There is no doubt that there is something positive about this,” Joe Girardi told The Post. “It is not just that we know he can get to the other side from a struggle, more importantly the player knows he can get to the other side. Now, he has two instances where he has gotten to the other side. That tells him that he can do this and probably means the struggles could be shorter in the future.”

Judge memorably homered in his first major league at-bat last year and, just as memorably, struck out in half of the at-bats he had in his late-season cameo. That raised doubts if he could ever control his large strike zone enough to fully capitalize on his immense power. He was not even assured a starting job in spring training.

He responded to that first dip by delivering an MVP first half. His insta-success — as much as anything — enwrapped the Yankees in a positive energy, a good vibe that helped a team that could have gone either way early (especially with injuries to Didi Gregorius and Gary Sanchez) start well and establish this was a good squad. That had to do with Judge’s success, yes, but also that everyone went for the ride with him. He was doing something magical and handling it so well that he was embraced not just by young players, thrilled one of their own could have such impact, but by veterans, who appreciated the humility and team-oriented nature Judge brought to his quick fame.

So it should not be a surprise that his failings for the first six weeks of the second half mirrored the Yankees’ toughest stretch of the year, as well. Now, his September rebirth has helped defibrillate this Yankees season, enabling them to have their best month and lock up a playoff berth.

For Judge, he has returned to having more judicious at-bats. He will always whiff a ton, owing to the sizable area of his strike zone and long levers. But what resonated from the first half was that even while striking out frequently, Judge was having sagacious at-bats. He was a tough out, even with two strikes; excellent at ignoring pitches he could not handle.

In the worst of July and August that process became unglued. Judge struck out in a record 37 straight games, which reflected abandoned discipline. Girardi often pointed to the walks as a sign there was still upside in the at-bats. But often Judge was walking because there were no alternative. Pitchers were being so careful with him and missing way out of the zone as opposed to the first half, when he regularly was earning a free pass by shunning a borderline pitch off the plate.

That kind of dogged at-bat has returned in September. What staggers me about Judge is that a player this young has a trait associated with Barry Bonds – out of pitcher fear, he does not see many hittable offerings, yet is ready to do damage when he does get something juicy. It speaks to a precocious maturity.

In coming after a slump that raised way more vital long-term questions than if he was blowing the MVP and even the Rookie of the Year, Judge’s resuscitation – now for the second time in his career – corroborates in the strongest way yet he is no freak show. He is a superb major league hitter able to adjust and adapt, able to fight through mental and physical woes. Whether he finishes first or second in the MVP, these two recoveries promise he will be battling for awards beyond 2017.

“One problem organizations run into is that their best players in the minors never go through a significant struggle, and you don’t find out if they can get through it,” Yankees bench coach Rob Thomson said. “But now on the major league level we have seen [Judge] dip twice, and we as an organization know he is going to come out of it. And I think it is because of one thing in particular that makes him special, and that is that every day he walks through that [clubhouse] door, he is the same guy if he hit two homers yesterday or hasn’t hit one in two weeks. He is very confident. He knows who he is and believes in himself. That gives him a lot of confidence, and it gives us so much confidence in him.”