Do we understand what we’re watching?
That’s the question I ask myself when I watch Aaron Judge play baseball for those New York Yankees these days. We know he’s great, but do we understand he’s actually soaring miles beyond great?
At this point, he’s now stomping into the land of the all-time great. In fact …
He has probably earned himself a label we shouldn’t just toss around because it makes for fun Hot Take Theater. By which I mean I think he’s staking his claim to being …
The greatest right-handed hitter of modern times.
Hey, before you start typing your outraged comments, you should know that I’m all too happy to invite Henry Aaron, Willie Mays, Joe DiMaggio, Jimmie Foxx, Rogers Hornsby, Hank Greenberg, Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, Mike Schmidt, Mike Trout, Frank Robinson and the PED-clouded threesome of Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez and Mark McGwire to the meetings of this club.
But now that I have all that out of the way, let me ask again: Do we understand what we’re watching?
Take a look at the numbers, friends. You may never see them again in your lifetime.
Over the first 34 games of this season … Judge slashed .423/.510/.777/1.287 with 11 home runs, a 261 Weighted Runs Created+ and a batting average higher than any other American League hitter’s on-base percentage. That seems good.
Over the last calendar year … Judge slashed .371/.496/1.283 with 64 home runs and a 252 wRC+. You know what we call a year like that? Ruthian. Literally.
Over the last four seasons … since the start of the 2022 season, Judge’s mind-blowing numbers look like this: .314/.439/.682/1.121 with 168 homers and a 207 wRC+. So wait, that’s four seasons of averaging 60 home runs per 162 games and producing runs at a rate more than double the league average? That’s the kind of thing that elevates a guy to a neighborhood where only Cooperstown residents get to hang.
How did I get myself thinking about where he stands among the most gifted right-handed hitters of modern times? By looking at all that … and then blowing up everything else I was working on to see if I was onto something. I think I was! Take a look.
The greatest 450-game stretch we’ve ever seen
Since Opening Day 2022, Judge had actually played 455 games through Sunday. But just for convenience, I spent way too much time comparing his brilliance to the best 450-game stretches by all other right-handed American League/National League power hitters of the past 100 years.
(I dropped in a 120-homer minimum, which lopped off a few hitters you might want to toss into this argument. Not to mention Hornsby. But sorry! It’s my list.)
168 HR trots — Only two other right-handed hitters in the last century have hit as many home runs over a 450-game span as Judge. And it’s safe to say they bring their own asterisks. That would be Mark McGwire (199), between 1997 and 2000, and Sammy Sosa (who topped out at 175 in a stretch between 1998 and 2000). Foxx led the asterisk-free crowd for close to nine decades (with 154), but Judge has blown even him away.
A 207 wRC+ — Can you comprehend how ridiculous it is to produce runs at a rate 107 percent above league average for a stretch that has gone on for longer than three seasons?
Before Judge showed up, no right-handed hitter had crashed the 200 wRC+ threshold over any 450-game stretch since Hornsby — who did it before our 100-year cutoff. Since then, Foxx, DiMaggio and Miggy had made it into the 180s. And Mays, Pujols, McGwire, Ramirez and Trout had edged into the 170s.
But to average 207 over three-plus seasons? You know how many right-handed hitters have even had one season with a 207 wRC+ in the last century, according to FanGraphs? Exactly one. Aaron Judge (218, last season).
That slash line — Do you remember watching the last right-handed hitter to beat Judge’s .314/.439/.682/1.121 line over any span of games this long? If you’re under 95 years old, you’re just making stuff up. Because, according to Baseball Reference, nobody has done it since Foxx went .355/.456/.716/1.171 over a 450-game span between 1932-34.
Since then, there have been close calls — from Pujols, Miggy, Manny, Mays, DiMaggio and Greenberg. But here’s how hard it is to even approach Judge’s numbers in this day and age:
Only two current players can even top Judge’s batting average since Opening Day 2022. That’s three-time batting champ Luis Arraez (.326) and Freddie Freeman (.315) — who A) both hit left-handed and B) have many fewer home runs combined (103) than Judge has by himself (168).
So can I rest my case yet? If you want to change this debate to the best right-handed hitters over 12 years, or 15, or 20, then obviously, Judge can’t compete with that. But who has been better in his prime? I think I just proved exactly who was — and wasn’t.
Got it? Cool. Now let’s fire some other fun Judge facts and feats at you.
The Ruthian season that never was
I love the What-If Universe at times like this — because it allows me to ask stuff like:
What if Judge’s last calendar year had been an actual season? Where would it rank in baseball history? Let’s put it this way: Only Ruth would be able to relate to it. Take a look.
| PLAYER | HR | AVG | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Judge ’24-25*
|
63
|
.371
|
.496
|
.788
|
|
Ruth 1927
|
60
|
.356
|
.486
|
.772
|
|
Ruth 1926
|
47
|
.372
|
.516
|
.737
|
|
Ruth 1921
|
59
|
.378
|
.512
|
.846
|
|
Ruth 1920
|
54
|
.376
|
.532
|
.847
|
(*in 159 games since May 5, 2024)
Miracle on 34-Game Street
Imagine hitting .423, with a .510 on-base percentage, over your first 34 games of any season … while slugging over .700 … and blowing past double figures in home runs.
Here’s the complete list of men whose first 34 games put them in .400/.500/.700/10-homer territory, according to Baseball Reference: Ted Williams, 1957 … Jimmie Foxx, 1932 … Aaron Judge, 2025.
Wait. No Babe Ruth? Nope. Just missed, by hitting “only” .395 (with 15 homers) in 1926.
April not foolin’
Judge had 50 hits on the board … before he even flipped his calendar to May. So is it safe to say he had himself an all-time month? Um, yes! Here’s how astonishing it was:
He had more hits in March/April (50) than Jose Altuve and Mookie Betts combined (49).
He reached base more times (73) than any active player has ever reached in any calendar “month,” except for Juan Soto in September/October 2021 (74).
Plus there was that .427 average and .521 OBP. Here’s the list of players who have ever had a “month” of .400./.500/10 HR+ and at least 73 times on base: Williams, Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle … and Judge. (Hat tip: Baseball Reference/Stathead)
He’s the biggest dude to ever do any of this
He’s built more like Karl-Anthony Towns than Rod Carew. But just suppose Judge goes on to win a batting title — at 6-foot-7, 282 pounds (according to the Yankees).
He’d be the tallest batting champ ever — because of course he would. The current record holders are Dave Parker, Derrek Lee and John Olerud, who were all listed at 6-5.
He’d be the thickest batting champ ever — and it wouldn’t even be close. If we go by official weight, the heaviest batting champ of all time was Frank Thomas at 240. Have I mentioned in the last two paragraphs that Judge is listed at 282? So he’s breaking the scales in more ways than one!
In other news
But also, through Sunday, you could say all this about Judge’s season:
• He had more multi-hit games (17) than one-hit games (13).
• He had more three-hit games (6) than zero-hit games (4). (Hat tip: Katie Sharp of Baseball Reference.)
• He had more singles (33) than Luis Arraez had hits (28).
• He hit .519 with runners in scoring position, with more than twice as many hits (14) as strikeouts (6).
• And as famed sabermetrician Cyril Morong reports, Judge had a higher batting average (.423) than any other American Leaguer’s on-base percentage. (George Springer was at .416.) Last hitter to pull that off over any full season? How ’bout Nap Lajoie … in 1901.
So what does greatness look like? It looks a lot like the biggest star on the New York Yankees.
Do you understand what you’re watching yet? You should by now. You’re welcome!
(Top photo: Dustin Satloff / Getty Images)