The average career length of a Major League Baseball Hall of Fame hitter is 18 seasons, and very few get into the hallowed Hall with fewer than 15 years in MLB.
That said, New York Yankees two-time American League MVP Aaron Judge is playing only his 10th season. But it is safe to say that he will clearly be a Hall of Famer.
According to the “Hall of Fame Monitor” formula created by the groundbreaking sabermetrician Bill James for assessing whether a player deserves to be immortalized in Cooperstown, a “likely” Hall of Famer, according to James, scores 100. A player with a score of 130 is a virtual lock for induction.
Judge scores 141 on the the Jamesian scale.
Judge’s Season So Far Blows Away Teammate
If there was any doubt about what a historically great player Judge has turned out to be, after being drafted by the Yankees 32nd overall in 2013 out of Cal State Fresno, Judge after the Yankees’ first 34 games — and Judge has played in all of them — is off to a start of historic and nearly unbelievable proportions.
In fact, Judge’s start has been so mind-boggling that on Sunday he received a message from a teammate who has put up some remarkable numbers in his career himself.
Giancarlo Stanton, the Yankees designated hitter, leads all active MLB players in home runs with 429. In 2017, his final year with the Miami Marlins before being traded to the Yankees, Stanton hit 59 home runs, the highest single-season total since Barry Bonds slugged 73 and Sammy Sosa 64, both in 2001.
But in 2022, Judge blasted 62. It should be noted that both Bonds and Sosa have faced allegations of performance-enhancing drug use. Judge has not dealt with any such allegations.
Stanton, who has missed the entire season so far with tendinitis in both elbows, spoke to the Yankees’ cable TV outlet, YES Network, where he was asked how he would describe Judge’s start to the 2025 season.
“I played MLB:The Show, and I don’t think I could play as good as he’s played now,” Stanton said. “It’s unreal, and it’s become almost like everyone just shakes their head. It’s a can’t-miss TV, for sure. It’s not an at-bat to miss.”
Judge Hitting at History-Making Rate
How good has Judge been, not quite six weeks into the season? In an era when batting averages are on a steady decline, dropping MLB-wide from .270 in the 2000 season to .243 last year season and .243 so far this season, Judge was batting an eye-popping .423 entering Monday’s game against the San Diego Padres.
The last batter to hit .400 over an entire season was the Boston Red Sox legendary Hall of Famer Ted Williams who batted .406 in 1941 — 84 years ago. Williams never duplicated the feat, coming closest in 1958 when he had an average over .400 entering June, but ended the season at .388.
In 1994, Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres recorded a .394 average for the season, a mark not equalled since.
Judge has already hit 11 home runs, a pace that would give him 50 if gets 600 official at-bats this year. His MLB-leading OPS stood at 1.287 heading into Monday’s action. He leads the Majors with 55 hits.
In terms of advanced statistics, Judge also leads MLB in wins above replacement player, or WAR, with 3.4 already. The New York Mets’ Pete Alonso is second with 2.1 WAR.
Yankees Slugger Drops Powerful Message For Aaron Judge on Insane Start to Season