On his usual home run pace, Aaron Judge reached another milestone on Wednesday night.
The two-run homer he hit at Citi Field was his 30th home run of the year, leading the MLB, and his 287th in Yankees history, tying him with Bernie Williams for seventh place.
“It’s great, but I’m not really focused on it,” said Judge, who scored seven of the Yankees’ nine runs in the Mets’ two-game Subway Series win.
“The season is starting and we have a lot of games ahead of us,” Judge said, already turning his attention to the first of a four-game series on Thursday night in Toronto.
The Yankees are one game ahead of the AL East, but they just lost for the eighth time in their last 10 games, and their offense has been in disarray recently, from their fourth pitcher to the ninth pitcher behind Judge.
“If we just keep showing up and keep working, we’ll get to where we want to be,” said an optimistic Judge, wearing Derek Jeter’s classic No. 2 Yankees road jersey.
Aaron Judge’s 2024 season compared to his 2022 season
Since May 3, the Yankees’ current captain has been on an incredible run, on an MVP-caliber pace, reminiscent of the season in which he hit an AL-record 62 home runs.
Judge is in the same situation he was in in 2022 (appearing in 80 of the team’s 82 games, with 30 home runs) and his overall numbers are even better than his MVP season.
80 matches will be reviewed in 2022.
At bats: 349
At bats: 303
Run: 65
Hits: 87
Doubles: 13
Triple: 0
Home runs: 30
RBI: 64
Walks: 40
Batting average: .287
OPS: .993
80 matches will be reviewed in 2024.
At bats: 352
At bats: 285
Run: 61
Hits: 88
Doubles: 23
Triple: 1
Home runs: 30
RBI: 77
Walks: 60
Batting average: .309
OPS: 1.145
‘Hard to fathom’: Aaron Judge’s 2024 stats
Judge’s performance is even more remarkable considering he batted .197 with six home runs through his first 33 games.
What’s more, Judge hasn’t had a slump since he was hit by a fastball on his left hand on June 18, missing a game and causing mild panic among Yankees fans until X-rays and a CT scan came back negative.
“It’s hard to understand what level he’s playing at,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He’s really tough to hit, especially at this time of day.”
Boone noted that the AL average OPS is .703 and Judge’s was at 1.045 through Wednesday, 100 points ahead of the great Shohei Ohtani.
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“It was a tough April, but it paid off,” Boone said. “His knowledge of the strike zone is incredible, and when the ball comes off the bat, it goes over the fence.”
Judge has been protected by Soto as the No. 2 hitter in the batting order, but the Yankees’ No. 4 hitter behind Judge has been lackluster recently.
Alex Verdugo was 2-for-33 before hitting two singles Wednesday night, while the two cleanup hitters for the Subway Series were Gleyber Torres (2-for-29, benched since Wednesday) and J.D. Davis, who was recently designated as a designated player by the Oakland Athletics.
If these trends continue, Judge might expect the number of strikes to decrease.
But there’s a universal feeling that “every time he steps up, something good happens,” said Soto, who sees his job as getting on base for Judge.
According to Sarah Langs of MLB.com, Judge is just the ninth player in MLB history to hit 30 home runs in an 80-game season multiple times, joining Babe Ruth, Roger Maris, Barry Bonds, Albert Pujols, Ken Griffey Jr., Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Jose Canseco.
The stat that will arguably mean more to Judge at a time when the Yankees are going through their toughest stretches are his league-leading 20 game-winning RBIs.
“You never want to lose in a row like that, especially against a team here in New York,” Judge said after the Mets lost their fourth straight game to the Yankees.
“But we’ve got to play tomorrow. That’s the great thing about this game. We have a chance to rewrite the script the next day.”
