Why Aaron Judge might be having the best offensive season by a right-handed hitter ever
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In 2022, Shohei Ohtani notched a career-best 2.33 ERA while leading the American League in strikeout rate, finishing fourth in Cy Young Award voting, mashing 34 homers and batting 44% better than league average. He did not win MVP.
Instead, Aaron Judge bested the two-way sensation in a historic year in which the Yankees slugger set the American League record with 62 home runs. Two years later, in a season the likes of which Major League Baseball hasn’t witnessed since Barry Bonds’ unrivaled stretch in the early 2000s, Judge is even better.
While this year doesn’t exceed what Bonds accomplished then, we have never seen a right-handed hitter produce the way Judge is this season.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Through 130 games, the American League MVP front-runner is slashing .333/.465/.732 with 51 homers and 122 RBI. Entering play on Tuesday, Judge is on pace for 63 homers, 188 hits, 128 runs and 150 RBIs. Sammy Sosa is the only player ever to reach those totals in a season, doing so in 1998 and 2001. Judge’s 1.197 OPS, as well as his 229 OPS+ and 225 wRC+ (adjusted for park and league environments), far exceed Sosa’s totals in either of those years.
In fact, no right-handed hitter in American or National League history has ever produced Judge’s current OPS+ or wRC+, much less while swatting 50 homers.
By wRC+, the only righty to even approach Judge’s mark is Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby, who slashed .424/.507/.696 in 1924. Hornsby had a 214 wRC+ that year with half as many home runs as Judge. (It’s worth noting that Hall of Famers and Negro League legends Josh Gibson and Mule Suttles recorded a higher wRC+ than Judge has this year, albeit in far fewer games played and, therefore, without the same counting stats.)
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Judge is the only right-handed hitter since baseball’s integration who already has a season with a wRC+ of at least 205, and he’s now on pace to do it twice.
He leads the majors in home runs by 10, RBIs by 18, on-base percentage by 38 points and in slugging and OPS by more than 100 points apiece. As extraordinary as his counting numbers are and likely will be at year's end, his rate stats might be even more mind-boggling.
If he stays on course this year, he will shatter every slash line total from his 2022 MVP season, in part because he’s walking more and striking out less than he did that season.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Bonds (2004) is the last hitter to reach every mark in Judge’s current slash line over the course of a full season, but the Giants slugger never did so while also mashing more than 50 homers. (Bonds hit .328 during his 73-homer season in 2001).
Only two players in the history of the game have matched or exceeded each of Judge’s slash line totals from this season while also hitting at least 50 homers, and both came before MLB’s integration. Babe Ruth did it three times. The right-handed-hitting Jimmie Foxx did it once, for the 1932 Philadelphia Athletics.
1920: Babe Ruth (.376/.532/.847, 54 HRs, 255 OPS+, 234 wRC+)
1921: Babe Ruth (.378/.512/.846, 59 HRs, 239 OPS+, 218 wRC+)
1927: Babe Ruth (.356/.486/.772, 60 HRs, 225 OPS+, 208 wRC+)
1932: Jimmie Foxx (.364/.469/.749, 58 HRs, 207 OPS+, 194 wRC+)
2024: Aaron Judge (.333/.465/.732, 51 HRs, 229 OPS+, 225 wRC+)
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This year, Bobby Witt Jr. — whose .347 batting average is the only thing standing between Judge and a triple crown — could assemble the best all-around season from a shortstop ever. And in terms of award voting, it might not matter. That’s how ridiculous Judge has been in a season in which he leads the majors in wins above replacement, in addition to all those aforementioned counting stats.
It did not begin that way.
Perhaps the most staggering part of Judge’s absurd season: He was hitting .197 with six home runs and a .725 OPS on May 2, 33 games into his campaign. At the time, it was fair to wonder whether last year’s lingering toe issue would also torpedo his 2024 season.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Since then, he is slashing .381/.510/.853 with 45 home runs and 104 RBIs over his past 97 games. Had he started the season on this tear, he’d be on a 75 home run pace, again invoking memories of Bonds’ record-setting 2001 season.
RELATED: Will Aaron Judge hit 500 home runs? Handicapping 18 players' chances
While besting Bonds’ all-time home run mark doesn’t seem in the cards this year, the Yankees superstar is still setting new historic totals seemingly on a weekly basis. Two weeks ago, Judge became the fastest player to 300 home runs. In Sunday’s two-homer performance, he became the fifth player in MLB history to launch at least 50 homers in three separate seasons, joining Ruth, Sosa, Mark McGwire and Álex Rodríguez.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}By year’s end, there’s a chance he’ll join Sosa and McGwire as the only players ever to produce multiple 60 home run seasons. Neither of them ever hit the mark while also batting .330, as Judge is doing now in what could go down as the best offensive season by a right-handed hitter ever.
And considering the MLB environment Judge is doing it in — an integrated, post-steroids era, when hitting has never been more difficult — there could at least be an argument come Game 162 that this is the most impressive offensive season ever, regardless of handedness.
Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}[Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.]