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The New York Yankees (40-19) have played sensational baseball through the first two-plus months of the season, and they find themselves in first place in the American League East by 2.0 games over the defending champion Baltimore Orioles. One of the primary reasons has been their success with the bats, and nobody has been hotter than outfielder Aaron Judge.
He finished the month of May by hitting two home runs against the Giants in San Francisco, the team he grew up rooting for as a youngster. He was blistering hot in May, as he belted 14 homers and 12 doubles with 27 RBI. His 26 extra-base hits are the most by any Yankees player in a month since Joe DiMaggio had 31 in July 1937.
This is just the eighth time since the end of World War II that any player in the majors had that many extra-base hits in any month.
“It’s hard to wrap your brain around what he’s doing,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “He just kind of does his thing. He’s just so consistent with who he is as a person, as a player and the way he goes about it. It’s just fun to get to watch it.”
As a result of his surge, Judge has moved into the favorite's role in the American League MVP race. Judge is listed as the plus-250 favorite by FanDuel to win the award and that places him slightly ahead of teammate Juan Soto at plus-270. Other candidates listed in the race include Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals at plus-550, Gunnar Henderson of the Baltimore Orioles at plus-550, Kyle Tucker of the Houston Astros at plus-700 and Jose Ramirez at plus-2500.
Judge captures the admiration of his teammates
The Yankees won the first game of the series against the Giants by a 6-2 margin. Starting pitcher Marcus Stroman earned the win as he gave up two runs in 7.1 innings. He has been hugely impressed by Judge's output at the plate.
“He’s incredible,” Stroman said. “It’s hard to put into words, but it definitely gives the whole team a little bit of momentum and motivation when he continues to keep going off. He’s definitely doing his part. So it just makes everybody else want to more for the squad. He’s definitely locked in.”
Through the first 59 games of the season, Judge is slashing .282/.408/.648. His slugging percentage ranks first in the American League. He also has a league-best 20 home runs and 18 doubles. Judge has driven in 45 runs, scored 40 runs and walked a league-leading 45 times.
Soto has also enjoyed an excellent first season with the Yankees. Soto is slashing .311/.413/.578 and playing a brilliant right field. He has blasted 15 home runs and driven in 49 runs. He has 70 hits for the Yankees and he has also scored 42 runs.
