The New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge was named the 21st best player out of the top 100 players right now. The ranking is by MLB.com presented by Topps Now. It was a slight drop for Judge; he came in 16th in last season’s rankings. Greg Amsinger, Sean Casey, Ron Darling, and Harold Reynolds of MLB.com put their heads together to come up with these rankings.
One has to assume that his drop in the rankings is because he only played in 28 games last year after being plagued with two different injuries. Nevertheless, he hit 9 home runs in his first 18 games before his injuries. That’s one home run every 12.75 at-bats. When he returned from the injuries late in the season, he didn’t hit another home run until the postseason. In the postseason, he hit 3 long balls in just seven games. One against the Cleveland Indians in the Wild Card and two in the ALCS against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Other New York Yankees to make the top 100 were home run champ Luke Voit at number 41, Gleyber Torres at number 64, Gio Urshela at number 78, and slugger Giancarlo Stanton at number 97. Numbers 20-11 will be released tonight and the top 10 on Wednesday night. There is no question that the batting champ DJ LeMahieu and pitcher Gerrit Cole will be among those in the top 20; the only question is how high up on the list.
Just missing the top 20, the now 28-year-old Judge’s numbers were slightly down in the shortened 2020 season. He slashed .257/.336/.554, but it was the injury bug that once again reared its ugly head when he missed 32 games while dealing with rib and calf injuries at different times over the course of the season. Other than his debut year in 2017, when he hit 52 home runs, he has been plagued with injuries in the seasons since.
Going into 2021, the New York Yankee star is healthy and ready to replicate his 2017 season for the Yankees. If he can do that, he will definitely be in the top 20 rankings at this time next year.