Aaron Judge has just hit his 300th home run.
Wednesday night at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago, Judge smashed a homer off Chad Kuhl of the White Sox. This made him the fastest player to reach 300 home runs, achieving it in just 955 games. The previous record-holder was Ralph Kiner, who took 1,087 games.
Here’s the moment Judge hit his milestone after Juan Soto’s intentional walk: NO. 3⃣0⃣0⃣ FOR AARON JUDGE https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1823912723178025214?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Ryan Howard and Juan Gonzalez are the only other players to hit 300 homers in fewer than 1,100 games. Judge also broke Babe Ruth’s record for fewest at-bats to reach this milestone—3,431 compared to Ruth’s 3,830. Additionally, he joins Mark McGwire as one of the few players to achieve this before hitting 1,000 total hits.
Judge commented last week about nearing this landmark: “If it comes with a win, it’ll mean something,” he said via New York Post. “It’s not what we play for. I just want to put us in a good position.”
Despite a slow start in April , Judge is on track for another historic season. His latest homer was his 43rd of the year in just 122 games. In comparison, during his record-setting season in 2022 when he hit 62 homers by year’s end, he had already tallied up 46 by this point.
Judge’s Record-Breaking Pace:
Judge is currently projected to hit around 57 home runs this season but could easily surpass that if he gets on another hot streak like earlier this year when he had stretches of hitting multiple homers over short periods.
Fans might think it’s amazing how consistent Judge has been despite early struggles.
In Yankees history ! Only Ruth (11), Gehrig (5), and Mantle (4) have more seasons with at least forty home runs than Judge does now with three such seasons under his belt.
Here’s a list of players who have achieved three or more fifty-homer seasons:
– Mark McGwire: Four times
– Babe Ruth: Four times
– Sammy Sosa: Four times
– Alex Rodriguez: Three times
Judge needs seven more homers in New York’s final forty games to join these legends with three fifty-homer seasons himself!
Currently batting .332/.466/.699 and leading MLB in several stats including RBIs (107) and extra-base hits (72), Judge is also ahead of Shohei Ohtani by six homers !
He becomes the newest member of baseball’s exclusive club with Marcell Ozuna (271), Salvador Perez (268), and Kyle Schwarber (274) next up on deck !
What do you think about Aaron Judge’s achievement?
