New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge has had his name all over the 2024 MLB season and has the chance to insert it in a rare milestone for the second time in his career.
Judge is fending off Kansas City Royals star Bobby Witt Jr. and his Yankees teammate Juan Soto as the MVP favorite in the American League, and for good reason. The Fresno State product is leading not only the AL but the entire Majors in OPS (1.147), RBIs (105), and home runs (41), all by considerable margins. It is the latter metric that has Judge on pace to do something he’s only done once before in his MLB tenure — something that was the biggest scale-tipper for his first AL MVP win in 2022.
Yankees’ Aaron Judge could crack 60 home runs this season
They say nothing good is ever said after the word, however. Not in this case. Judge’s 41 home runs are impressive in and of itself. If the season ended today, that total would likely be talked about well into the future in conjunction with the winning season the Yankees are having this year. However, the Yankees (69-49) still have 44 games left in the regular season. This means that the 32-year-old has time to crack 60 home runs before the season is all said and done.
Judge can reach that total based on the pace he’s currently on. The three-time Silver Slugger Award winner is slated to hit 15 more home runs. That would put him at 56 homers if he plays out the rest of the campaign without missing time. The likelihood that Judge can add four extra bombs to that average is not out of the realm of possibility.
Judge’s recent stretch suggests he can exceed his HR pace
The California native has six home runs behind a .404 batting average over the course of his last 15 games. That torrid level of play, if continued at the least, could result in him sending an excess of 17 bombs into the stands over the last 44 games of the 2024 campaign. That pace would leave him less than two homers away from the 19 he would need to reach 60, which would be achievable based on his success at the plate.
There have only been nine 60-home-run seasons in MLB history, achieved by Judge and five other players. The Yankees’ franchise player’s 62 homers in 2022 rank No. 7 all-time and placed him in the same breath as legends Barry Bonds (73), Mark McGuire (70, 65), Sammy Sosa (66, 64, 63), Roger Maris (61) and Babe Ruth (60). A 60-piece from Judge would put his name right next to “the Bambino” and strengthen his MVP case over a surging star in Witt Jr., whose mind-boggling play of late has rivaled Hall-of-Famers the likes of Yankees legend Lou Gehrig.
