Aaron Judge is a very scary hitter, but not quite to the same extent as two power hitting legends before him.
OF Aaron Judge is the premier slugger in all of Major League Baseball. Say what you want about DH Shohei Ohtani being the most formidable dual threat, but he is not a pure power hitter in the same mold as Judge. Since the start of 2022, the captain has led MLB in home runs twice and accumulated more than an astronomical 13 WAR in his last 162 games. Judge is currently on the IL with an elbow issue, but it doesn’t seem to be serious.
His absurd production has really only been seen twice before: at the dawn of the live ball era and during the steroid era. Any manager knows that when Judge comes up to bat, there is a strong probability he gets on base or hits it out. Perhaps the greatest intimidation is his size at 6’7″ and 282 pounds. In whatever way pitchers choose to attack him, he often makes them regret it.
Yet for all his insane power numbers and ability to control the plate, Judge will never be OF Barry Bonds. This is for one simple reason: Bonds, when he was on the juice, was practically an alien. Bonds struck out just 239 times during his four-year MVP from 2001 to 2004, an average of 60 per season. To put it in perspective, Judge struck out 346 in his two MVP seasons. Hitting the same number of home runs but striking out three times more often will not command the same level of fear, not should it. Judge simply doesn’t have the same eye as Bonds, and even with steroids, hitting a baseball still requires timing, patience, and coordination. Bonds already had three MVP titles before the 21st Century.
Some Perspective
Likewise, OF Babe Ruth was nicknamed the Martian for his otherworldly talent. He struck out about 80 times per year during his peak, around half of Judge’s rate. Pitchers also had little incentive to pitch around him since 1B Lou Gehrig was on deck. Ruth drew lots of walks as well, and who knows how many intentional walks he had. As unique as Judge is among his contemporaries, he still does not have the same larger-than-life presence of the Babe and Barry Bonds.
To further illustrate Bonds’ fear factor in the 2000s, his intentional walk totals were from another galaxy. Even in his 40s he still jogged to first 81 times uncompetitively. Before this year, Judge’s career high was 20. Teams don’t need to walk Judge since there’s a decent chance he will strike out. Judge has under 100 career intentional walks, while Bonds easily surpassed that in one season. Judge is surging this year with 25, but that is still far from the mythical heights of Bonds and likely Ruth.
Nobody doubts that very people want to pitch to Judge. But it is worth pointing out the ramifications aren’t as consequential as doing so with Ruth or Bonds. Ruth was nearly flawless at the time, as nobody knew how to handle his power. Similarly, Bonds seemed invincible. His stance was terrifying, and his swing was bionic. Bonds was clutch and could embarrass any pitcher. No opponent wanted to give up a 500-foot home run when they could just throw four balls. Pitchers couldn’t exploit any zone against Bonds, while they can execute down and away to Judge. Judge has vulnerabilities, while Bonds and Ruth didn’t really.
Group of Three
Judge, Ruth, and Bonds are certainly all cut from the same cross. They each have the natural power needed to be a true slugger. They each have demonstrated some amount of supreme command of the strike zone. And most of all, they have made it difficult for opponents to plan around them. Yet as amazing as Judge’s numbers are right now, they simply do not reach the same level of sheer panic that sent shivers down the spines of opposing managers facing Bonds and Ruth. For Ruth to reach their miraculous levels, he would somehow need to find another gear of plate discipline and cutting down strikeouts.
Aaron Judge is one of the best MLB players of our generation and few players in history can match his skill set. But it is not enough to intimidate occasionally or only when on a hot streak. The greatest figures in baseball can single-handedly make the game revolve around them. The game then in turn respects those select few. Aaron Judge is an all-time great player in the making. The question becomes, what kind of legacy will he leave behind?
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