Birthdays are important. Today is Aaron Judge¡¯s.
After a slower start last season, Judge skipped that part of the program this year. Entering Saturday, he¡¯s hitting .408 with a 1.222 OPS and seven home runs.
He plays for the most accomplished team in the history of the sport and has managed to become one of its big, prolific names. That¡¯s no small feat. By the end of the season, Judge, who entered Friday with 54.7 WAR, will likely rank sixth in franchise history in the metric, behind Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio and Derek Jeter.
His career has garnered plenty of accolades so far, and there¡¯s no better time to put what he¡¯s done in historical context than on his special day.
Here¡¯s how Judge's career stacks up thus far.
Home run pace
Any discussion of Judge¡¯s historic career needs to start with home runs. Last August, Judge reached 300 career homers in just 955 games. That wasn¡¯t just the fewest games to the mark, it was in a new stratosphere, ahead of Ralph Kiner, who got there in 1,087 career games.
Prefer to quantify by at-bats? We¡¯ve got you. Judge reached 300 homers in 3,431 at-bats, the fewest in MLB history. He usurped Ruth, who got there in 3,831 at-bats, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
He enters Saturday, which will be his 1,020th career game, with 322 home runs. That¡¯s 36 more than any other player in his first 1,020 games -- and he could still homer on Saturday and distance himself further from Ryan Howard in second on that list. In related news, his 40 multihomer games are five more than anyone else in his first 1,020 games, ahead of Kiner.
Judge has three seasons with at least 50 home runs. That¡¯s one shy of the record of four such seasons, shared by Ruth, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.
Beyond home runs
Of course, any Judge connoisseur knows he¡¯s much more than just the long ball. He hit .322 last year, gets on base and contributes offensively across the board.
To that end, he enters Saturday with a 1.016 career OPS. The only players with higher marks in their first 1,019 games are Ruth (1.187), Ted Williams (1.129), Gehrig (1.088), Jimmie Foxx (1.075), Frank Thomas (1.056), Todd Helton (1.041), Albert Pujols (1.037) and Hank Greenberg (1.037). That¡¯s quite a list to rank ninth on.
Judge has had a wRC+ of at least 175 -- meaning he¡¯s been at least 75% better than league average, offensively -- and at least 35 homers in each of the previous three seasons. The only players with longer such streaks are Ruth, with streaks of both seven and five seasons, and Barry Bonds with a five-season streak.
His career-best 218 wRC+ last year was notable historically. It was the highest by any right-handed hitter in a season, with a minimum of 500 plate appearances. That¡¯s right, on Judge¡¯s long list of accomplishments is the best hitting season by a righty ever, by a metric that adjusts for era and ballpark. And by the way, his 2022 (206 wRC+) ranks third, behind a 214 from Rogers Hornsby in 1924.
The only other players in MLB history with multiple seasons with at least 500 plate appearances and a 205 wRC+ are Ruth, Bonds and Williams. Take a moment to appreciate that quartet.
The hardware
When he won his second MVP award last season, Judge did something that only one other player in vaunted Yankees history had done. He won unanimously, joining Mantle in 1956 as the Yankees¡¯ only unanimous MVP winners since the BBWAA began voting in 1931. The Yankees have won 22 MVP awards in that span, four more than any other team, so it¡¯s no small sample.
Can he win another? We won¡¯t know until the season is over, but it would be historic. The only Yankees with three MVP awards are Mantle, DiMaggio and Yogi Berra. The only MLB player to win MVP more than three times is Bonds, with seven.
Until then, we all get the joy of watching another season from Judge.