When Aaron Judge steps to the plate, he brings a sense of danger with him. Opposing pitchers cringe in fear. Third basemen edge up on their toes. Even fans 500 feet away in the nosebleed seats feel the danger of getting conked on the head by a Judge dinger, but baseball’s record book is in the most danger now that Judge has posted his 300th career home run.
Judge crushed his landmark home run against the Chicago White Sox, so we may have to attach an asterisk to this one. It happened in the 8th inning of a 10-2 Yankee route, so it wasn’t exactly a clutch shot, either.
Aaron Judge puts history on notice
No matter. By becoming the fastest player ever to reach 300 at the relatively tender age of 32, Judge announced his presence on yet another segment of the MLB record book to complement his 62-HR season in 2022. Judge sent New York’s bullpen boys into a frenzy of dancing by annihilating a hanging 3-0 sinker in his 3,431st at-bat of his 955th game.
Neither of those numbers is trivial, either. It took Ralph Kiner nearly 1100 ABs to hit his 300th, and even Babe Ruth needed 3,831 plate trips to get to 300. Judge is the seventh Yankee to hit 300+ home runs, and he joins an exclusive list that includes Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and (oof) Alex Rodriguez.
Numbers aside, perhaps the most remarkable thing about Judge’s shot was the “strategy” employed by Chicago to handle the powerful middle of the New York lineup. Trailing 6-2, new manager Grady Sizemore earned his bozo White Sox bona fides by walking Juan Soto to get to Judge when the manager had an open base to play with.
It was a tactic designed to launch an epic fail, and Judge quickly complied, sending the hanger high into the stratosphere. The only thing missing was a quivering John Sterling call, but the Yanks will undoubtedly cobble something over the top together as part of their Aaron Judge highlight package.
Judge keeps Yankees on top
Record book homers aside, Judge’s contribution did have some meaning in the ongoing pennant race in the AL East. The Yankees have been involved in a back-and-forth battle with the Baltimore Orioles, and the 10-2 laugher helped keep New York ahead of the scuffling O’s.
Baltimore has basically been playing .500 ball since the All-Star break, while the Yanks have recovered from a bad series against the Angels to win subsequent series against the Rangers and White Sox, respectively.
The race continues with both teams playing eminently beatable opponents. The Yankees head to Detroit for a Friday date with the Tigers, who are below .500 but have a three-game winning streak going as they wrap their series with Seattle. The Orioles, meanwhile, get to feast on a Red Sox pitching staff that’s been running on fumes since the All-Star break.
Judge, meanwhile, gets to face the challenge of Comerica Park, but if there’s one thing we’ve learned in the last few years, it’s that no ballpark can contain an Aaron Judge moonshot when he gets a hold of a meatball. Expect at least one or two of those over the weekend now that Judge doesn’t have to think about #300 anymore, and the rest of us can keep our popcorn handy as he continues to shred the MLB record book.
Comments