Words Fail To Describe The Fabulous Accomplishments Of New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge

Aaron Judge is a mountain of a man. At 6-7, 282 pounds, Judge towers over his MLB peers.

One of this scout’s fondest memories is seeing Judge standing next to 5-7 inch Jose Altuve during a photo opportunity at the 2017 All Star Game. It was a hilarious visual, with both players clearly enjoying the moment.

To put it mildly, Aaron Judge is huge. And so are his accomplishments.

Judge now finds himself on the brink of making history.

Judge is only 30-years-old. If he stays as healthy as he is now, he has many good baseball years ahead. His career can be seen in his windshield, not his rear view mirror.

At the start of play September 21, Judge has hit 60 home runs.

Judge has become the third New York Yankees player to hit 60 home runs.

Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs for the New York Yankees in 1927. Roger Maris hit 61 homers for the Yankees in 1961.

Frankly, the right-handed hitting Judge’s season of destiny isn’t based solely on his home run prowess.

At the start of play September 21, Judge has a batting average of .316, one point ahead of Xander Bogaerts of the Boston Red Sox. He also leads the American League in on-base percentage at .419, slugging percentage at .703, and on-base plus slugging at .1.122.

At the start of play September 21, Judge has gone to the plate 636 times. He has stayed healthy. His career high in plate appearances was 678 in 2017. He will eclipse that by plenty.

Consider that at the start of play September 21, Judge has scored 123 runs. His MLB high was 127, which he accomplished in his 2017 All Star season. After all, scoring runs is what baseball is all about.

Consider that Judge has driven in a whopping 128 runs. And he still has 14 remaining games.

Surprisingly, managers have chosen to pitch to Judge, rather than intentionally walking him. In fact, only 17 of his 93 walks have been intentional.

There really are no words in this writer’s vocabulary to chronicle the pure magnificence of the performance this year of Aaron Judge.

And by the way, Judge has stolen 16 bases in 19 attempts. Many big league players are still looking for their first stolen base of the year.

The Future:

The Yankees entered the 9th inning of their game September 20 down 8-4 to the National League Pittsburgh Pirates. Every game is important to the Yankees, even with their comfortable lead over second place Toronto in the American League East.

With nobody out in the 9th, Judge came to the plate against Pirates right-handed reliever Wil Crowe. Judge promptly hit a solo homer to deep left field at Yankee Stadium that put his team back in play. It ignited a rally that saw slugging teammate Giancarlo Stanton hit a 9-8 walk-off grand slam homer to left field. Another Yankees victory. It put them 5.5 games ahead of the Blue Jays.

Judge is being payed $19M this year by the Yankees, his last before he can become a free-agent at the end of the World Series.

One must remember that when he was with the Washington Nationals, outfielder Juan Soto rejected a 15-year, $440M offer. He was then traded to the San Diego Padres, where he will play this year on a $17.1M contract and has two more arbitration years before he can become a free-agent in 2025.

As of this writing, Soto is hitting .242/.404/.454/.858 with 25 home runs and 59 RBIs combined for Washington and San Diego. He has, however, walked 126 times in 607 plate appearances.

Taking any statistic, the player that was offered $440M can’t come close to comparing with Judge regarding production this year. But, it is important to remember that Soto won’t be 24 until October 25.

However, when he was 25, Aaron Judge hit 52 home runs. He drove in 114 runs. He scored 128 runs in his 678 plate appearances. One has to wonder if he should have been offered a Soto type contract at $440M after that season? Baseball simply didn’t do that then. Things have changed. Money is flowing more freely for Super Stars. Lengthy, expensive contracts are not rare.

It has been reported that on opening day, the Yankees offered Judge a seven-year, $213.5M contract. He turned it down.

The Yankees and Judge are still trying to find a common meeting place for a new contract.

So of course the question is quite simple. If Soto is worth $440M at the age of 23, what is Judge worth at the age of 30 with a legendary career that now includes a feat accomplished by Babe Ruth? Time will tell. And the time may be sooner than later, as the Yankees have expressed a great desire to retain Judge on a long-term contract. Of course.

Conclusions:

Aaron Judge towers over his MLB peers. And he has the ability to stay calm and collected, staying in the moment.

When he was chasing 60 home runs, Yankees slugger Roger Maris lost hair, lost sleep and was almost overcome with angst and emotion in his quest.

Now, Judge has hit 60 home runs and has 14 more games to add to that total. Judge seems to be enjoying the ride. He seems calm and very upbeat. He has remained humble and confident, without being cocky. He is living in the moment, and enjoying every minute.

The marvel of Aaron Judge is not solely the home runs. He is a fantastic five-tool baseball player. He plays tremendous defense with very strong and accurate arm strength. He has well above average speed. He is hitting for the best batting average in the American League. And man, is he hitting home runs.

Almost bigger than life, Aaron Judge owns the moment. Every moment. It remains to be seen if this massive slugger can put his team on his back and carry them to a World Series Championship? It is clearly possible. And so is the fact he can add to that current 60 home run total.