New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge is having another historic, MVP-caliber season, but is he even approaching the status of the Yanks’ greatest legend?
On Monday, New York Post’s Jon Heyman made the case that Judge compares statistically right now to the one and only Babe Ruth.
“Judge is on pace for the best statistical year unaided (read as no PEDs) since Babe Ruth posted a 255 OPS-plus in 1920, two points higher than Judge’s 253 mark into Sunday,” Heyman wrote.
“That 253 is also the best ever mark in the integrated era, which is in its 79th season.”
“Judge’s monster finish in 2024 and start to this year provide great contrasts to 2024, when he had a human April that needlessly raised alarms. He says he didn’t change a thing except log a few more at-bats in spring to better prepare himself, yet it’s transformed him into the best of Ruth, who used to only draw comparisons to (Shohei) Ohtani.”
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“Judge’s start to this season is so compelling, he is not only outdoing Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Fernando Tatis Jr. and, of course, (Juan) Soto, but every post-integration, non-PED player, too. Entering play on Sunday, Judge led the American League in batting average (.398), OBP (.490), slugging (.778), OPS (1.268), runs (54) and hits (86). Yep, that’s every key stat except home runs, where he trailed Seattle’s Cal Raleigh by two (23 to 21).”
“Judge led all of MLB in OPS by a ridiculous 18 percent over second-place Freeman (1.268 to 1.078) and by 38 percent in WAR over next-best Jeremy Peña (4.7 to 3.4).”
Judge can’t get much better, statistically speaking. He’s well on his way to his third MVP trophy in four years, but what Judge would love more is a World Series title in October.
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