Aaron Judge just hit another home run for the New York Yankees. His fourth-inning blast off of the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday (Sept. 30) gives him 52 on the season and an even stronger case for MVP votes. Judge continues to add to the statistics that could go down as one of the best rookie seasons ever seen by Major League Baseball.
Judge is really fitting in well at Yankee Stadium, as this is his 33rd home run of the season at home. He has helped elevate the Yankees in the second half of the season as the team tries to chase down the Boston Red Sox in the American League East.
While the odds are against the team succeeding in that goal, the fans are extremely confident on social media.
Could Judge really win the MVP Award?
Through the fourth inning on Saturday, Aaron Judge now has 52 home runs, 114 RBIs, and a .285 batting average to show for this season. He also has an impressive on-base-percentage of .422 that shows how often opposing pitchers are trying to work around him at the plate. Judge’s personal stats are often shadowed by the number of strikeouts he has this year (207), but he continues to show off his power stroke.
With his 52nd home run of the season, Judge has tied Mickey Mantle for the 8th-most in a season in Yankees history. His single-season mark of 33 home runs at Yankee Stadium is now a team record, though, breaking the tie he had with Babe Ruth on Saturday afternoon.
He has the rest of Saturday and the game on Sunday (Oct. 1) to possibly move further up the list of most home runs in a season by a Yankees hitter.
Judge, the Yankees, and MLB history
Maybe mentioning Aaron Judge in the same conversation as Babe Ruth isn’t as far-fetched as it was once considered. While they aren’t comparable as overall players, especially when factoring in the pitching prowess of Ruth, their power strokes are becoming the stuff of legend.
If Judge can continue this trend of crushing the baseball, he will soon find himself residing among the other legends who have called Yankee Stadium home.
The big test for Judge and the Yankees will come in the postseason. If the Yankees remain the top Wild Card team in the American League, they will host the Minnesota Twins in a one-game series.
Winning the AL East would mean escaping the Wild Card Game, though, which would afford the team a few extra days of rest. Then it will be time for Aaron Judge to prove his worth in the postseason, a place where legends like Dere Jeter were made.