By Chris Kirschner / The Athletic
Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider was so sick of seeing Aaron Judge swing the bat that when Judge came up in the second inning of Saturday’s game, with two outs and no one on base, Schneider did something that no other manager had done in that situation in 52 years: He called for an intentional walk.
“I honestly didn’t feel like seeing him swing. That was kind of it,” Schneider said, chuckling. “He’s in a different category, I think, than anyone else in the league to where he can just flip the script of a game with one swing.”
Not even Barry Bonds, who finished his career with 688 intentional walks, including 120 in 2004, was intentionally walked with two outs and no one on base within the first two innings of a game.
“That’s beyond the Bonds treatment,” New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Now we’ll call it the Judge treatment.”
It’s hard to believe that Judge is compiling a better season in 2024 than his historic 2022 campaign, but he is. Judge has a higher batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, on-base plus slugging percentage and walk rate and a lower strikeout rate than in 2022, the year he was named the American League’s MVP after hitting 62 home runs.
Judge woke up April 27 with a .674 OPS and just four home runs. He had a .178 batting average and faced constant questions about whether something was wrong. He was facing some poor batted-ball luck; Judge’s advanced metrics were encouraging, and it seemed just a matter of time before he would break out. Judge hit a home run in Milwaukee on April 27, and he hit another one the following day.
Since April 27, Judge has 37 home runs in 84 games. Even with his poor April, Judge is on pace for 59 home runs for the season.
Judge’s MLB-leading 41 home runs are eight more than the 33 from the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, through Sunday, and nine more than the 32 of the Baltimore Orioles’ Anthony Santander.
Despite his impressive stats, Judge is seeing more pitches in the strike zone than ever. His zone percentage is 49.1%, which is 2.3 percentage points higher than it was in 2022.
One reason pitchers are having to face Judge more often than they would like is because Juan Soto is hitting in front of him. Through Sunday’s games, Soto had the second-highest on-base percentage in MLB (behind Judge, of course), so many of Judge’s at-bats have come with a runner already on base.
“I think it doesn’t hurt to have greatness in front of you,” Boone said. “The fact that Juan is on base as much as he is, now all of a sudden the pitcher is in the stretch with a runner on base — he’s threatened more often than not.”
The Blue Jays did not care Sunday that Soto was already on base in the fifth inning. They intentionally walked Judge to face Austin Wells, who also walked. Giancarlo Stanton then struck out with the bases loaded to end the inning. More teams may take the Blue Jays’ strategy and decide it’s not worth pitching to Judge no matter the situation.
Judge isn’t waiting, though, to see how teams will play him. He has 16 first-inning home runs this season. He has already tied Babe Ruth with the most first-inning home runs in a single season in franchise history.
“It’s surreal,” Judge said. “Anytime you hear those greats that are all around this building, all around the stadium, it’s almost kind of make-believe, some of the stuff they did. To be mentioned in any type of category in anything with those guys, it’s quite an honor.”
If Judge hits three more first-inning home runs this season, it would be the most in a single season in MLB history, surpassing Alex Rodriguez’s 18 from 2001.
“We’re watching greatness,” Boone said. “You try not to take that for granted, what you’re seeing 99 do.”
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It's no surprise to me that Judge is having an even better season than his historic 2022 campaign. He's consistently proven to be one of the best in the Wordle Game. His ability to outperform even his own impressive stats is just a testament to his incredible skill and dedication.