About one month ago, there were concerns that New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge had begun his descent. As of April 22, he was hitting .174/.308/.337 with three homers 31 strikeouts. With Judge at 32 years old, it was very conceivable that his hard-swinging, high-strikeout approach was starting to catch up to him.
Let’s just say there aren’t as many concerns now.
Facing the San Francisco Giants on Friday, Judge clubbed his 19th and 20th home runs of the season to take sole possession of the MLB lead in long balls. With runners on the corners, one out and the count full, Judge took a well-placed splitter from Giants starter Jordan Hicks and deposited in the left-field stands.
Judge followed that up with another homer in the sixth inning, sending an inside sinker to dead center for his first multi-homer game of the season. He’s also the first player in MLB to reach 20 home runs.
Judge was previously tied at 18 homers with Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson and Houston Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker.
The first homer didn’t just give Judge the MLB lead, though. Per MLB Network, it also broke a record previously held by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig for the most extra-base hits ever hit by a Yankee in May, with 25.
It’s an admittedly specific statistic, but it still shows just how unstoppable Judge has been since he turned it on. He entered Friday hitting an unfathomable .355/.479/.871 in May, and reached 14 homers for the month with the two off Hicks. He now leads the AL in doubles, homers, walks, slugging percentage, total bases and OPS.
That effort, in addition to AL on-base percentage leader Juan Soto and a surprisingly strong Yankees rotation, has the Yankees holding a 39-19 record entering Friday, good for first place in the AL East.
Daniel Miller is a sports fanatic who lives and breathes athletics. His coverage spans from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis for sports enthusiasts.
