The New York Yankees have a flat-out generational talent on the roster.
Aaron Judge enjoyed one of the greatest seasons in history in 2022, yet his 2024 season may be even better.
As of August 6, the Yankee captain has a mind-boggling .322/.456/.701 slash line, 41 home runs, 103 RBI, a .476 wOBA and 216 wRC+, and 7.7 fWAR; he leads the major leagues in all of these categories except for batting average. In fact, his current wRC+ of 216 would be the fourth highest of any player since the turn of the millennium, behind only Barry Bonds’ 2001, 2002, and 2004 seasons.
Which finally begs the question: is Judge in the same conversation as the all-time home run king?
“I gotta say no, just because of how I view Bonds and how great he is,” Judge said to Joel Sherman of The New York Post. “He’s the best player I think I’ve ever seen. Still, in my mind, I pinch myself as the little kid who was watching him make it look easy, because I am here and it isn’t easy.”
Judge, who notably grew up as a San Francisco Giants fan (his favorite player was Rich Aurilia), saw Bonds’ absurd 2001-2004 peak first-hand.
He just made the game look so easy,” Judge said of his memories watching Bonds. “Usually there’s a base open and they walk him in a big spot, and even if there wasn’t a base open, he’d get walked. Then maybe there would be one time a game they would pitch to him, and it would be off the plate, off the plate, up and in. And then they would leave one over the plate, middle away and he would just drive the ball over the fence in left-center. He made it look easy.
“It was impressive to me as a kid because, yeah, there was all that power, but also the great eye. He knew what he wanted to do and he did it.”
