Aaron Judge hit his 300th career home run on Wednesday night, and while that may not be spectacular in itself, the pace is certainly impressive.
The Chicago White Sox were trailing 6-2 in the eighth inning when they intentionally walked Juan Soto to face Judge, which was certainly a choice.
Judge did not disappoint them. With three balls and no strikes, he smashed a 110.1 mph liner into the left field stands at Guaranteed Rate Field for his 43rd home run of the season and gave New York a 9-2 lead.
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Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees hits a single in the seventh inning of a game against the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field on August 13, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (Quinn Harris/Getty Images)
On Wednesday night, Judge played his 955th career game (eight years and one day after his MLB debut), making him the fastest player to reach 300 career home runs so far.
The previous record was set by Ralph Kiner in 1,087 games; Judge achieved the milestone in 132 games fewer than that, nearly one season.
Judge is on track to win his second MVP award as he leads the majors in home runs, RBIs (110), on-base percentage (.467), slugging percentage (.707), walks (102) and total bases (301) while his batting average of .333 is second only to Bobby Witt Jr.’s .349.
In fact, Judge is putting up better numbers than his 62-home run season from two years ago, and if he continues on this path, even that record is in jeopardy — perhaps becoming just the fifth player to hit 50 or more home runs in three seasons, joining Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Alex Rodriguez.
Hitting 300 home runs in 955 games is a pace of 50 home runs every 162 games per season.
Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees hits an RBI double during a game against the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field on August 12, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (Matt Dirksen/Getty Images)
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This is a big turnaround for Judge. On May 2, he was batting just .197 and Yankees fans were clamoring to bench him. But since Wednesday, May 3, he’s batting .387 with a 1.342 OPS.
Judge is in the second year of a nine-year, $360 million contract he signed after that season. His $40 million salary is the highest ever for a position player, but it’s less than his teammates. Juan Soto He may surpass that this coming offseason.
This deal looked scary last year, after Judge missed most of the season after crashing into the concrete wall in the outfield at Dodger Stadium and injuring his toe. He was batting .291 with a 1.078 OPS at the time of the injury, but his batting average dipped to .238 after his return. Fans don’t need to worry too much anymore.
New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge (99) celebrates in the dugout after hitting his 300th career home run in the eighth inning of a game against the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field. (Matt Murton – USA Today Sports)
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The Yankees are 72-50 and half a game behind the Baltimore Orioles for first place in the AL East.
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