We just had the most preposterous year of Aaron Judge

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NEW YORK — On April 27, 2024 in Milwaukee, Yankees slugger Aaron Judge went yard.

By Judge’s Goliathan standards, this particular home run was routine, innocuous, almost forgettable. The Yankees were already up six runs in the sixth inning when Judge lofted a hanging slider up above the yellow line in deep left-center field. The ball left his bat at “just” 103.9 miles an hour and went “only” 417 feet before caroming off that batter’s eye and back into play.

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It was only the fifth big fly of Judge’s season, a paltry first-month total for the perennial MVP candidate. As Judge underwhelmed his way through April, entering that Brewers game with a .674 OPS, whispers and murmurs followed. So did questions about his swing, his timing, his confidence. Fans worried. Reporters inquired. But Judge? He carried on, trusting his ability, his process and the long game.

Nobody realized it at the time, but that garden-variety tater off Brewer reliever Thyago Vieira turned out to be a turning point of historic proportions. The Yankees went on to a 15-3 blowout win, but for Judge, who would go on to win the 2024 AL MVP, it marked the start of something special.

Since that day in Milwaukee, Judge has played 162 regular-season games, the length of a single MLB season.

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Over that span, the Yankee captain has a .369 batting average, a .494 on-base percentage and a .774 slugging percentage. That gives Judge an outrageously supersonic OPS of 1.268 over his past 162, the single best offensive stretch in MLB since Home Run King Barry Bonds posted a 1.392 between 2003 and 2004.

The only other players in baseball history besides Judge to post an OPS that high over a 162-game stretch are Bonds, Babe Ruth and Ted Williams, arguably the three best hitters in baseball history.

What Judge has accomplished, or rather, is accomplishing, can be described only as generational.

“It’s remarkable.” Aaron Boone told reporters after Judge homered again Wednesday against Baltimore, his 64th over his past 162 games. “I always say we’re running out of superlatives or things to say about it, but what he’s doing – he’s playing a different game.”

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In today’s game, pondering if a specific player will hit .400 for a full season is like pondering if a specific person might walk on the moon. It’s happened, but not in decades. It’s technically possible, sure, but practically improbable. And yet, when a reporter asked Boone this week if Judge could stay above that magic line all year, the skipper wavered, but didn’t shut it down.

“As I always say with him, I’m not gonna put anything past him. But .400? I’m not gonna put anything past Aaron Judge, but .400?”

Yes, that lofty landmark remains unlikely, but Judge has spent the past year reconfiguring our baseball brains with this constant excellence.

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He has elevated himself from a legend of his era to an all-time icon. Baseball history is dotted with towering sluggers who put up gaudy numbers for a few years but faded over time. Dave Kingman. Frank Howard. Boog Powell. All sensational, none, however, were Hall of Fame material. But for Judge, a trip to Cooperstown — once considered a long shot given how late into his career Judge joined MLB’s elite — now looks like a given.

Through it all, Judge, ever meticulous, has stayed grounded in his process. Even when he wavered during the first month of 2024, he never overcorrected or panicked. Judge has an unshakable, fundamental faith in his ability. He knows how good he is, which allows him to keep things simple.

“Like I say, you just gotta go up there with confidence. No matter what.” Judge told reporters after Wednesday’s game when asked about how it felt to be hitting .427 this season. “I can’t focus on results, you have to focus on the process.”

He hopes loyalty to his process, over 162 games, can carry him and his club back to October. Part of why Judge’s outlandish year has, perhaps, not gotten the praise it deserves, is that sandwiched within it was a postseason to forget. During last year’s playoff run, the Yankees captain went 9-for-49 with three home runs. And in Game 5 of the World Series a dropped routine flyball opened the door for a soul-crushing Dodgers comeback.

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So when Judge downplays his absurd numbers with deference to “the process” it’s not just performative humility, it’s an understanding of reality. Because for all Judge has accomplished and will continue to accomplish, there’s only one box left unchecked: a 28th Yankees championship.

And this being baseball, there’s a real chance he never gets one. The playoffs are too random, the impact of a single player too small. There’s a chance, however unfair, that 2024 was his best shot.

If that’s true, it still shouldn’t take away from what we’re lucky enough to watch now: one of the greatest hitters of all time, dominating at the peak of his powers. Even if Judge never captures October glory, this run of brilliance — this most preposterous year — will endure anyway, carved forever into baseball history.

This news was originally published on this post .

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