Aaron Judge is off to the hottest start in MLB. (Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images)
(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect / Reuters)
Aaron Judge is off to a great start — to both the 2025 season and his New York Yankees career.
The reigning AL MVP hit his MLB-best sixth homer of the season and 17th RBI of the season against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday, taking reliever Tim Mayza deep to push the Yankees’ lead to 9-1.
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The homer was 106.7 mph off the bat and traveled 403 feet, per Statcast. Reminder: he’s doing this without the (somewhat overrated) torpedo bats.
The homer was the 321st of Judge’s 1,000-game career, which is significant because a different slugger also had 321 in his first 1,000 games with the Yankees. Babe Ruth had that many after joining the team in his trade from the Boston Red Sox.
It defies belief that a player could match Ruth’s historic power output after the Hall of Famer became a full-time outfielder rather than continue as a starting pitcher. It’s not the first time Judge has matched Ruth in the record books, or the second, but there simply isn’t a modern player who can match his power output at full strength, though Shohei Ohtani has narrowed the gap a little.
