By Alfredo Echenique Lugo
03 Aug 2024, 09:14 AM EDT
This Friday the New York Yankees hosted the Toronto Blue Jays in a game in which Aaron Judge stood out with his 40th home run of the season, in addition to reaching 101 RBIs.
Judge’s massive blast came in just the first inning of the game off the pitches of Kevin Gausman. He sent a 95.3 MPH fastball to the Yankees slugger and he sent it out of the park reaching 477 feet at a speed of 117.5 MPH.
With these numbers and just over 50 games left to play, Judge is aiming to have one of his best seasons in the Major Leagues. And the “Judge,” as he is often nicknamed, is currently leading in several MLB departments.
With 40 home runs, he is the top home run hitter, seven ahead of Shohei Ohtani. In terms of RBIs, he is the only one with 100 or more so far this season, 10 ahead of José Ramírez, who has 91 so far this season.
Judge’s performance this season not only puts him as a serious candidate for this year’s MVP award, but also has made him join a select group of historic Yankees with his 40th home run.
And only four Yankees players, now with Judge, have managed to have three or more seasons with at least 40 home runs in each of them. These are Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Mickey Mantle.
Judge managed to hit 40 or more home runs in the 2017 seasons, in which he won the Rookie of the Year after hitting 52 homers, and in 2022 when he broke the American League record and hit 62 homers to also take home the MVP award.
Keep reading:
Jazz Chisholm makes history with Yankees: “I feel like a kid”
· DJ LeMahieu drives in six runs for first time as Yankees sweep Phillies on road
Yankees fan knocks out Phillies fan during fight [Video]