The Yankees are starting to run out of ways to praise Aaron Judge.
The slugger belted his 49th home run of the season in Friday’s 3-0 win over the Rockies, putting him on pace for 62 home runs this season, which would tie his American League record and make him the third player in history to have multiple seasons of 60-plus homers.
“It’s hard to wrap your head around,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after the game. “I get asked about it all the time. People coming up to me. I’m running out of words to say. You’re witnessing greatness. He’s kinda better than everyone.”
Judge entered Friday with a 228 OPS+ — which measures a player’s on-base plus slugging across the entire league and adjusts it to the league average of 100. So, Judge is 126 percent better than the league average which would rank as the 10th-best in the history of baseball behind only seasons from Barry Bonds, Babe Ruth and Ted Williams.
“I wasn’t here in [2022] but I feel like he’s more of a complete hitter this year,” Yankee starter Carlos Rodon, who threw six scoreless innings on Friday, said. “He’s hitting .340, he gets walked out an outrageous clip, he’ll still be able to do that damage in two at-bats when the other two are intentional walks. It’s impressive.”
It’s almost Bonds-esque. Of course, Judge was not entertaining that kind of comparison.
“I try not to think about it,” Judge said. “Even when they would say the Yankee greats here: [Mickey] Mantle, [Joe] DiMaggio, [Roger] Maris, Babe Ruth. It’s tough to comprehend to think about, so just don’t think about it and keep going.”
Meanwhile, Giancarlo Stanton – who also homered for the second straight game and batted behind Judge on Friday – said the best is yet to come with. Judge.
“He’s done it before so you can’t be surprised,” Stanton said. “We’ll have plenty of time for him t o do even more impressive things. Stay the course, we have time.”
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