aaron judge needs his own thread

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.

Is there clear evidence that's hurting hitters? In 2022, the year before the pitch clock came in, teams scored 4.28 runs per game:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/majors/2022.shtml

In 2023, first year with the clock, that went up to 4.62 runs per game:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/majors/2023.shtml

This year, back down to 4.40:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/majors/2024.shtml

That's just one factor, there are obviously others. So I don't know.

A big part of the pitch-clock coming in was batters constantly calling time and stepping out, right?

The rule change stipulates the following:

The pitcher must begin his motion to deliver the pitch before the expiration of the pitch timer. Pitchers who violate the timer are charged with an automatic ball. Batters who violate the timer are charged with an automatic strike.

Batters must be in the box and alert to the pitcher by the 8-second mark or else be charged with an automatic strike.

I garbled the point...You're saying Judge is helped by the pitch clock and pitchers are hurt. Maybe, maybe not; the rule affects both parties. First runs went up (see, it hurts pitchers), this they're they're down (wait, maybe it hurts batters).

"this year they're down"

Ohtani got his 400th TB last night; Judge needs 8 more in 3 games, so he's right on target.

i can't believe he could still get to 60 after april and that two week jag this month

I had to check (I realize you could do this with most great seasons):

May 1 on: 126 games, 52 HR, 126 RBI, .356/.492/.785

Aug. 26 - Sept. 8: 12 games, 0 HR, 3 RBI, .186/.340/.256

Just the good stuff: 114 games, 52 HR, 123 RBI, .375/.514/.843

Bonds, 2001: 153 games, 73 HR, 137 RBI, .328/.515/.863

That's basically a wash, I'd say--50 points of batting average on Judge's side, 20 points of slugging to Bonds. Judge maintained that for almost 3/4 of the season, Bonds maintained it the whole way.

Plus (if you care), you know the rest.

including park factors, Bonds gets +2.0 Wins added to his fWAR over Judge.

Judge not in the lineup tonight. I get it, but I don't get it.

scared of the pirates imo

0-5 with 5 Ks today. washed

you age past 30 and you start getting those two day hangovers

congrats on judge for the best offensive season by a right handed batter of all time

Wow. Imagine his season without the paw patrol curse!!

This sucks. I’m rooting for him to do something.

I’ll occasionally have a nightmare where I relive a bad slump I had during my junior year! I’m 40!

https://i.imgur.com/rKSZVmq.jpeg

so judge is a trumper? say it aint so

That quote is fake

phew! it aint so!

He is however one of those guys whose bio starts “Christian” which ime never a great sign, but that paragraph doing the rounds is super fake and Judge has never spoken out about his politics in any real way that I can recall besides supporting BLM vocally & telling Josh Donaldson publicly to drop his Tim Anderson baiting. People only believed it cos Volpe follows Trump & Don Jr on Instagram.

verdugo seems like the most obvious trumper on that team

Going by his brother on Twitter, that would be extremely surprising. His brother is extremely vocal about hating Trump. Not saying siblings can’t have different views but considering they’re supposed to be very close and how polarising that would be, I couldn’t see it.

Anyway they just signed Max Fried who is one of the few baseball players who is open about being (relatively speaking, for baseball) on the left.

huh don’t judge a book by its cover i guess i was just going off vibes xp

Can confirm Mark Vientos has good politics

Canha too

re: judge not speaking to soto, he explained himself a bit here (from november): https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/42548266/aaron-judge-giving-free-agent-juan-soto-space-make-choice

seems like he wanted space to make his own free agency decision without outside pressure, and felt soto would want the same. seems like he miscalculated.