When talking about New York Yankees rookie right fielder Aaron Judge, feel free to say that he’s doing something as well as its even been done. It won’t be a recency bias or using hyperbole, either. No, saying such a thing would simply be correct.
Judge hit his 10th home run of the season on Saturday against the Baltimore Orioles. In doing so, he tied an MLB rookie record previously shared by Jose Abreu and Trevor Story.
.@TheJudge44’s 10th HR of April ties Trevor Story and Jose Abreu for the all-time rookie record in April. https://t.co/2Eoun8nR4h pic.twitter.com/uHFLWpRYUS
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) April 29, 2017
It’s worth noting that while Story played only 22 games in April of 2016 (hitting his 10th home run in the 21st game), Abreu played in 29 games in March/April of 2014 and hit his 10th home run in the 26th game. Judge has played in 21 of New York’s 22 games.
Judge has done a little more than just tie the rookie record. His 10th home run came in the Yankees 22nd game of the season. That puts him on pace to hit 74 home runs, which would be a single-season record.
Mind you, that doesn’t mean that we’re predicting that he will break Barry Bonds’ mark. But it’s certainly an indicator of how powerful this kid is.
As is typical with Judge’s home runs, his 10th dinger of the season was anything but cheap.
This is just getting ridiculous. #AllRise pic.twitter.com/QEL58HFM5W
— MLB (@MLB) April 29, 2017
If you’re a Yankee hater, we hope for your sake that you’ve enjoyed this team’s relative futility over the last few years. New York has a tremendously talented young nucleus and with Judge leading the way, the Yankees are quickly turning into the Bronx Bombers again.