Aaron Judge continues pace for yet another historic season

SEATTLE — Aaron Judge is in the early stages of putting together another candidate for one of the best offensive seasons by a right-handed hitter in the modern era.

For the Yankees superstar, though, the gold standards in that category are Miguel Cabrera and Albert Pujols, in part because of how they hit for average in addition to power.

“I try to model a lot of the stuff I do after Cabrera and Pujols, the two best right-handed hitters I’ve ever seen,” Judge said before the Yankees topped the Mariners 11-5 on Monday in Seattle. “So just trying to follow their lead and wherever I’m at in the lineup, I got to do my job. If I’m hitting third, I got to drive guys in. If I’m hitting second, I’ll get on base and do what I need to do for the team.”

In each of Judge’s MVP seasons, he has made a run at the Triple Crown before coming up short both times in batting average. In 2022, his .311 was just shy of Luis Arraez’s .316.

In 2024, he improved to batting .322 but was overtaken by Bobby Witt Jr. (.332) and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (.323).

There still is a long way to go this time around, but he went 2-for-3 Monday with an RBI to raise his batting average to .414 with 14 home runs.

For a five-game stretch last week, Judge appeared to be human. He went 3-for-19 with a home run and three walks, dropping his batting average under the double-Mendoza line (.400) by Friday night.

His response? Crushing a pair of home runs Saturday and then going 4-for-5 on Sunday.

“Just another day at the office for him,” Ben Rice said with a chuckle. “It’s crazy, you sometimes catch yourself taking it for granted, what he’s doing. But it’s been so impressive to watch, so fun to watch him hit every day and go out there and help us win.”

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