Press Box: Aaron Judge’s season for the ages, again

Dan Elson, Contributing Writer

New York Yankees superstar outfielder Aaron Judge is putting up historic numbers at the plate that few legitimate players have ever done.

Judge is hitting .322 with 51 home runs and 126 RBIs this season as of Sept. 10, according to Baseball Reference. He is on pace to hit 57 home runs as of Sept. 9. Judge is better now than he was two years ago, in which doesn’t even seem possible. But it’s reality.

In a 100-game stretch this season, Judge hit .378 at the plate with 45 home runs and 106 RBIs, according to Sports Illustrated. That 100-game stretch is a once-in-a-lifetime hot streak. We won’t see that again for a long time. 

It’s shocking that Judge struggled in April — just hitting .207 at the plate. Had he played decently then, Judge could have 56 or 57 home runs right now since there are a few weeks left in the season.

 Judge hit .311 and produced 131 RBIs to go along with his 62 home runs in 2022, according to Baseball Reference. When Judge hit his 62nd home run, he broke Yankees outfielder Roger Maris’ 1961 American League record of 61. 

Judge has the chance to finish the season with 60-plus home runs for the second time in his career. Babe Ruth never hit 60 home runs in a season twice, and Hank Aaron never produced 60 in a season.

Plenty of Yankees fans like me didn’t grow up watching Ruth and Mickey Mantle, but Judge is our modern-day version.

When baseball fans think of players who have hit 60-plus home runs in the past, names such as Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa come to mind. However, those players used steroids.

The “steroids era” began in the late 1980s and ended in the 2000s. Bonds hit 73 home runs in 2001; McGwire hit 70 in 1998 and 65 in 1999; and Sosa belted 66 in 1998, 63 in 1999 and 64 in 2001. 

If those guys weren’t elected to the Hall of Fame, then their historic seasons should not count. The fact that Judge is hitting home runs at an historic pace naturally, is truly remarkable. He is the true home run king. 

Judge had an injury-plagued season in 2023. He only played in 106 games but still managed to hit 37 home runs. It’s a shame he got hurt last year because Judge would have chased his record again. 

Judge hit his first career home run on Aug. 13, 2016. He hit his 300th home run of his career in just 955 games on Aug. 14, the fastest in history. Ralph Kiner, who played back in the 1940s and 1950s, hit his 300th in 1,087 games, which is now the second fastest. 

It’s one thing to hit home runs and produce a high OPS, but to be a complete hitter like Judge is even more impressive. 

More pitchers are intentionally walking Judge early on in the game to avoid getting beat by him. Bonds received the same treatment because pitchers feared him. There’s no other player in the MLB that gets pitched around more than Judge. While it’s annoying that opposing managers take the bat out of Judge’s hands, it shows how dangerous he is at the plate. 

Judge hasn’t had the most impactful players bat behind him until catcher Austin Wells moved up to the cleanup spot and started producing. When you have a good hitter batting behind Judge, that allows him to see better pitches to hit in the strike zone. 

If Judge has protection behind him, pitchers can’t pitch around him because if he gets on base, the fourth hitter has a chance to do damage at the plate. 

Baseball and sports fans should tune into his at-bats because of what Judge is doing at the plate. Judge is without a doubt the AL MVP this season.