It's Aaron Judge's world, we're just living in it.
New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone is running out of superlatives for Aaron Judge. The Yankees' powerhouse hitter crushed his 49th home run of the season during Friday’s 3-0 victory over the Colorado Rockies, positioning him on track to hit 62 home runs this season.
“It’s hard to wrap your head around,” Boone said after the game.
If Judge reaches 62 home runs, it would tie his American League record and make him the third player in history to achieve multiple seasons with 60 or more homers.
Aaron Boone running out of words to describe Aaron Judge
This marks Judge's fourth straight game with a home run, which includes a multihomer outing on August 21 against the Guardians.
“I get asked about it all the time. People coming up to me. I’m running out of words to say. You’re witnessing greatness. He’s kinda better than everyone,” he continued.
The struggling Rockies managed to neutralize Judge in three of his four at-bats, as he grounded into a double play, lined out to third, and popped out. However, with enough chances, the league's top hitter made his mark.
In the sixth inning, with the Yankees ahead by two, Judge led off with a solo home run after the Rockies decided against issuing an intentional walk, a tactic increasingly used against him.
Heading into Friday's game, Judge had a 228 OPS+ — a metric that adjusts a player's on-base plus slugging percentage to the league average of 100.
Judge is better than everyone
This means Judge is performing 126% better than the league average, which would rank as the 10th-best in baseball history, trailing only seasons by Barry Bonds, Babe Ruth, and Ted Williams.
“He’s hitting .340, he gets walked out an outrageous clip, he’ll still be able to do that damage in two at-bats when the other two are intentional walks. It’s impressive,” added Yankee starter Carlos Rodon.
Judge dismissed the idea of being compared to Yankees legends.
“I try not to think about it. Even when they would say the Yankee greats here: [Mickey] Mantle, [Joe] DiMaggio, [Roger] Maris, Babe Ruth. It’s tough to comprehend to think about, so just don’t think about it and keep going,” said the hard hitting 32-year old.
Judge has belted seven home runs over his last eight games (dating back to August 14), eight in his last 11 games (since August 11), 14 in his last 25 games (since July 26), and 17 homers in his last 34 games (since July 12).
This marks the second time this season that Judge has homered in four straight games, having previously done so from May 22-25.
Aaron Judge in an unreal run for the Yankees
Over his last 100 games since April 27, Judge is hitting .378 with 45 home runs, 24 doubles, 106 RBIs, and 84 walks. Remarkably, no one in MLB history—not even Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, or Barry Bonds—had ever managed to bat at least .375 with 45 home runs over a 100-game stretch.
Giancarlo Stanton also added a solo home run for New York, hitting one to right-center in the fourth inning off the Rockies Kyle Freeland. This marked Stanton's second consecutive game with a home run.
“He’s done it before so you can’t be surprised,” Stanton said about Aaron Judge.
“We’ll have plenty of time for him to do even more impressive things. Stay the course, we have time,” he continued.
