Judgement Day
Coming off a disappointing season, the New York Yankees needed a change. They had the worst record of any Yankees team since 1990, and looked like a team without identity. However, you can always count on the Yankees to make a splash in the off season and boy did they, acquiring Juan Soto in a trade with San Diego to bolster a lineup that struggled without Aaron Judge for an extended period last season. This trade has paid off massively for New York, with the Yankees riding a dominant pitching staff and a resurgent lineup to the best record in the American League.
The key every year to the Yankee’s success is their big bats. Arron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton being healthy and productive are so important to this team, especially with how much money they make. So far, Stanton not only has been healthy, but his power has returned. After only slugging 24 home runs last year, he is off to a hot start in the power department with 15 dingers, and a .466 slugging percentage giving the lineup some much needed length and run scoring capability beyond the top three batters in the order. But the real strength of the Yankee’s lineup and catalysts for their early success has been newcomer Juan Soto.
Soto has posted a .318/.424/.603 slash line, clubbing 17 home runs, and providing a much needed lefty power bat, as well as a consistent man on base for the man behind him, Aaron Judge. Judge looks to make history once again after an injury filled season last year where he hit 37 home runs in only 106 games. Judge is on a historic pace after his scolding hot month of May, where he clubbed an absurd 14 home runs and slashing .361/.479/.918 en route to earning the AL player of the month honors.
Currently sitting at 24 home runs, Judge is on pace for 58 round trippers, giving him an outside shot at 60 if he can quicken his pace a bit (which, as we know historically, is very possible). This would be significant because it would make Judge just the third player ever with multiple 60 home run seasons, joining Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa who both played in the peak of the steroid era and were suspected users of said substances. Which makes the achievement something we may never see again in our life times.
Judge continues to be a generational slugger, leading the league in almost every major power category and outpacing his WAR from his 62 home run MVP season a few years ago. That pace seems a lot more feasible knowing that Judge homers roughly every 11.54 at bats. If he maintains that average, he is on pace to surpass 300 career homers, which would be notable because he would have done it in only seven full seasons worth of games and it would set him on the track (barring catastrophic injury) to be an inner circle Hall of Famer.
Written and submitted by Jackson Westfall