aaron judge needs his own thread

Hence the joke--that's how far into the weeds I had to wade to find one positive split for Bellinger. He's terrible overall, and terrible in just about every situation.

He’s a great dad

(I don’t know that, I’m not sure if mr bellinger has kids or not)

When I saw Bellinger play live a couple months ago, what struck me was how graceful and easy he made it look in the OF, and how bad he looked at the plate. Even from my distant vantage point he just seemed off. That big ol swing of his was probably full of holes just waiting to be discovered or he’s just lost something with it.

judge with #55

TSH here cut away to a Judge AB during their 11:00 sportscast.

TSN, that should read.

Hitting almost .500 this month, now within 9 points of Bogaerts for the batting lead (and Triple Crown).

Whoah--two tonight.

Both HR tied the game, too; they just gave him an IBB in extra innings.

the walk was sooo lame man

I’m in NY in just over a week - attending a yanks game, and there is no way he’s not hitting #62 before I get there

If you catch #62, do not trade it in for a free hot dog and a photo with Judge--cash in.

…and make it clear ur shaking down the yankees not judge

he has been walked in extra innings every single time, i think a team would probably walk him with the bases loaded if there were fewer than two outs

% pitches thrown to Aaron Judge that were in zone:

47.6% <---- April 2022
48.7% <---- May 2022
48.0% <---- June 2022
44.2% <---- July 2022
43.4% <---- August 2022
53.4% <---- September 2022 https://t.co/smFB8xBuw4

— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) September 14, 2022

xp that sounds very incorrect, power hitters tend to GIDP a lot so you're spotting the other team a run to lower the chance of your best outcome, all out of fear of your worst outcome

maybe they'd figure he's less likely to gidp than giancarlo or ikf?

I used to lament the fact that this guy was on the fuckin Yankees of all teams but after seeing what happened to Trout and Ohtani I actually kinda want to see him win a World Series mvp

what happened to Trout and Ohtani?

they were banished to a team that never goes to the playoffs

Thinking he might get to Sosa’s peak season at this rate.

already at 10.4 fWAR. about to pass betts for the best non-bonds season of the 21st century

also a point of batting average away from the triple crown

“but what is his era?” - annoying people

Judge has 20 more homers than anyone else in baseball, something only Babe Ruth has ever done.

he's batting .491 in September so far

I used to love telling students about Ruth's 1920 season, when he outhomered every team in the league except his own--it was like science-fiction, I'd say. That won't happen this year, but Judge (59) ain't that far behind the Tigers (93).

All over the place, but asks a good question: "What is (Judge) chasing?"

https://joeposnanski.substack.com/p/the-real-home-run-record?r=1jtu0&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

what does he conclude? (paywalled)

to me, the record that i care about is still 61. sosa and mcgwire and bonds count, there's no need to pretend it didn't happen. i just don't care about those records in the same way that i don't care if two timin' jimmy mcneely hit .424 in 1897 or whatever

That link should work--it's one with a share link. I'll try again:

https://joeposnanski.substack.com/p/the-real-home-run-record?r=1jtu0&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

Anyway, no real conclusion:

Ruth’s 60 is a number we care about still, though the game has changed many times over since then.

Maris’ 61 is a number we care about still, though the game has changed many times over since.

Bonds’ 73 is also a number we care about still, though the game has, we hope, changed since then, too.

And wherever Judge ends up, we’ll care about that, too. What’s the REAL record? Let’s be honest: It is whatever you want it to be.

it turns out the home run record was inside of us all along

the record is 73

What would you consider the single-season E.R.A. or strikeout records for pitchers?

the single season ERA record is 0, held by me and every other person on earth

so many unearned runs though

There you go then: the E.R.A. record is whatever you want it to be.

I only acknowledge my favorite HR race of all time, when 38 yr old Darrell Evans beat 37 year old Carlton Fisk for the 1985 AL home run crown. Steve Balboni in third place.

when i was a kid i had so much energy that i would pitch along to the televised games, mirroring the delivery of the pitcher. jfc i was a dork. but i feel like i threw hundreds of innings during those years, putting wear and tear on my arm at an early age. gave up some tough hits during those games as well, it was a learning experience

Baseball Reference--which may or may not jibe with the MLB's official record book, I don't know--has the single-season strikeout record as Matt Kilroy's 513 in 1886, when hitters used sawed-off table legs as bats and pitchers were allowed to take a 100-yard running start before delivering a pitch. Nolan Ryan's 382 ranks eighth.

1996 brady anderson is the most interesting single-season home run count and thus the record

jimmy otm

Pretty significant death. It doesn't make sense by modern metrics (39.6 career bWAR), but I know he still has passionate HOF advocates. He and Wes Parker were basically the focus of an excellent book I read last year on the great '60s Dodgers teams, The Last Innocents.

Oops.

60! Was watching the live look-in on mlb.com.

No doubter. he makes it look so easy

Worst thing is, on a night the Jays can move to within four, he's sparked this 9th-inning rally.

Thanks, Judge.

officially the triple crown leader now, too

I wasn't kidding the other day--I hate this.

https://www.mlb.com/news/college-student-catches-aaron-judge-60th-home-run-ball

You don't owe Judge or Cooperstown or the game or fandom anything; keep it and get as much as you can.