aaron judge needs his own thread

From Posnanski today, a vivid demonstration of why it's harder for Judge and everybody else to do what they do than hitters of the past.

I randomly picked out a few great hitting years and wanted to see how that hitter did against pitchers the fourth time through. I’m sure if I searched, I could find exceptions. But here’s what I found:

Hitter vs. Batter, facing a starter for the 4th time (or more):

Babe Ruth, 1927: 119 PAs, .394/.492/.894 with 12 home runs
Ted Williams, 1941: 85 PAs, .446/.577/.877 with 7 home runs
Mickey Mantle, 1956: 80 PAs, .386/.463/.871 with 11 home runs.
Frank Robinson, 1966: 63 PAs, .333/.460/.706 with 6 home runs.
Joe Morgan, 1976: 54 PAs, .439/.556/.902 with 10 extra bases hits.
Mike Schmidt, 1980: 48 PAs, .361/.479/.667 with 3 home runs and 10 walks.
Cal Ripken, 1991: 45 PAs, .463/.511/.756 with 3 home runs.
Barry Bonds, 2001: 21 PAs, .438/.571/.1.188 with 4 home runs
Miguel Cabrera, 2010: 14 PAs, .400/.500/.700 with 1 home run
Aaron Judge, 2024: 0 PAs

I'll trust that it was indeed a random sample and he didn't discard examples that didn't fit.

Jesus Ted

Glad you omitted the comma: he basically was.

2 more homers tonight

it's just absolutely disgusting what he does to baseballs

another one today. 48 now

WAR is 8.9 yowza

9.2 on FG

even Yowza-er

jfc this staten island little league coach

what an asshole

another one

Three guesses...fifth player now with three seasons of 50+.

https://www.mlb.com/news/aaron-judge-hits-50th-homer-of-2024

fifth player ever?

without looking: judge, bonds, sosa…ruth…mcgwire?

judge, mcgwire, sosa, a-rod, ruth

i think bonds’s 72 homer season was somehow his only 50+ homer season

somehow lol

sorry sorry bonds was the greatest etc

51…

somehow lol

― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Sunday, August 25, 2024 2:35 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

even in roided out god mode he only ever hit 45-49 homers!

Mets can suck it

bonds walked too much to hit 50+ again, his numbers those next few years suggest he easily would have if he was pitched to

Makes sense but still am surprised he only did it the once

this made me look up Bonds on Fangraphs and that BB% still makes my eyes pop out of my skull like a cartoon wolf in love with a sexy wolf lady

A good listen is effectively wild 762 where they all sit around and name their favorite bonds facts. They start giggling uncontrollably after a while

Judge's OPS+ right now is 230; for MLB in the 20th century, he's only behind multiple seasons by Bonds, Ruth, and Williams (mixed in with Josh Gibson, Oscar Charleston, Buck Leonard, and three other Negro League players, plus a couple of guys from the 19th century).

He probably should have waited five games, but from Posnanski's post today:

.383/.512/.865, 1.377 OPS, 24 doubles, 1 3B, 45 homers, 104 RBIs, 91 runs

Those are Aaron Judge’s numbers over the last 95 games.

I’ve been poking around through the archives, and I’m now convinced: That’s the greatest 95-game hitting stretch in the long history of baseball.

Ya, that not a nice round number! i hate it!!

First mini-slump since the spring: (last 7 games) 27 AB, 13 strikeouts, 0 HR, 2 RBI, .148/.281/.185. Age has finally caught up to him, Bellinger ready to take the reins.

we called it!

they're calling it the The Curse of Paw Patrol!

Aaron Judge since he went on paw patrol
.159/.284/.245 (.529 OPS) 42.1 K% pic.twitter.com/4CM4w0yg4h

— . (@HalToHell) September 5, 2024

paw patrol iirc

He has to be hurt

Maybe emotionally

he barreled a few balls yesterday, just directly at fielders. he'll be mashing again soon enough

Yeah, I have a feeling he'll be fine. Just a hunch.

Omen of a hunch, concept of a plan--good call.

we back

Triple Crown definitely within range: HR/RBI safe, eight points behind Witt for the batting lead (and one ahead of Vlad).

hopes are fading but i'm still rooting for that satisfying-looking 60 hr/150 RBI season.

Had to check, of course: just Sosa (twice!) and Ruth.

Sammy almost had two 60/160 seasons. his 2001 was something else. probably had a really good energy drink he was mainlining.

may have been 'leaded coffee' in the clubhouse

btw top ten oWAR seasons of all time --

Barry Bonds (2001) - 12.4
Babe Ruth (1923) - 12.3
Babe Ruth (1921) - 12.2
Barry Bonds (2002) - 11.8
Babe Ruth (1920) - 11.8
Barry Bonds (2004) - 11.5
Rogers Hornsby (1924) - 11.5
Aaron Judge (2024) - 11.4
Babe Ruth (1927) - 11.4
Honus Wagner (1908) - 11.4

the rest of the double-digit oWAR guys are all pre-WW2 except for three Mantle seasons, one from Musial, one from Williams, another from Judge, and one from Trout.

If you throw PEDs and segregation into the mix, I don't think it's unreasonable to say we're watching the greatest offensive season ever (MLB, anyway).

love throwing PEDs and segregation into the mix

I dont care about PEDs

The most impressive thing to me about Judge (and Ohtani, and anybody else who plays today) is this, which I needed someone to spell out to me clearly, with numbers:

aaron judge needs his own thread

Here's Bonds facing the starter for the 4th time in those three seasons on the WAR list (2001/2/4):

2001: 16 AB, 4 HR, .438/.571/1.188
2002: 12 AB, 1 HR, .167/.474/.500
2004: 13 AB, 3 HR, .539/.667/1.308

Total: 41 AB, 8 HR, .390/.569/1.024

Judge never faces a starter for the 4th time.

(I will mention, though, he's at his best in 2024 facing starters for the first time; he's a little worse the second time, and worse still the third time. That's weird...)

Judge never faces a starter for the 4th time.

Bonds never faced a pitcher on a pitch timer.