The past year of Aaron Judge has Yankees Slugger who laps his MLB colleagues like nobody ever did – not even Barry Bonds

It is not often a question like “Who is the best pitcher in baseball?” Or “who is the best short stop in baseball”? Has a clear and flawless answer. These things are almost always under discussion. At the moment, “who is the best batter in baseball?” The question has a clear and indisputable answer. Are Aaron Judgerule the MVP of the American League and captain of the New York Yankees.

Judge ended April with a thunderous .427/.521/.761 Slash Line. He leads baseball in stroke average with 71 points, on-base percentage with 50 points, Slugging percentage with 104 points and OPS with 154 points. And the thing is, April 2025 was only a Judge fourth-Best month in the past calendar year. This is the production of the Bonkers:

1. May 2024: 293 Ops+
2. June 2024: 288 Ops+
3. August 2024: 276 Ops+
4. April 2025: 250 Ops+
5. July 2024: 202 Ops+

OPS+ adjusts attacking performance for Ballpark and the attacking environment of the competition, among other things, and presents it on a scale where 100 is the competition average. The higher, the better. Judge’s 250 Ops+ In April, in April, it essentially means that he was 150% better than the average batter. The next best in Pete Alonso With a 219 Ops+. Judge is now so far ahead of any other batter.

“At the moment he is Tony Gwynn,” Yankees left -handed Carlos Rodón said After Judge 7-out-12 went into a three-game series against the Cleveland Guardians Last week. “He will probably be Hank Aaron next week.”

The production of 2025 of the judge is so outrageous that last Sunday against the Toronto Blue JaysHe went 3 to 8 with a home run in a double header, and his season stores went down from 1,223 to 1,217.

It is funny to think that last year we wondered what was wrong with Judge last year. He started the 2024 season slowly and was even booed on his own Bobblehead Day in Yankee Stadium. On the morning of May 1, 2024, the judge woke up with a .200/.331/.400 line. That’s not terribleAlthough it was good south of its usual production. Judge was definitely non-judge-like in April 2024.

In the last calendar year, however, Judge has written one of the biggest attacking performances in baseball history. Here are his numbers in 159 games since 1 May:

Stroke average	.362	Bobby Witt Jr. (.333)
On-base percentage	.489	Juan Soto (.408)
Slugging percentage	.759	Shohei Ohtani (.630)
OPS	1,248	Ohtani (1,019)
Home Runs	62	Ohtani (54)
WAR	13.6	Witt (10.4)

“It’s baseball, you will have,” Judge recently said about the difference between April and last April (via mlb.com). “You can talk to me if I have a tough month and I would say the same thing. It’s about keeping things easy. I wanted a better April than last year.”

The gap between judge and everyone else – some of the greatest batters in the sport – in the last 365 days is huge. We are talking about 29 points of stroke average, 81 points of on-base percentage, 129 points in Slugging percentage and 229 points of OPS for a whole year, not a month or two. Many boys can have a judge for months. Only judge can have a judge.

To put the OPS gorge in perspective in the last 365 days, out-on-on-on-on-on-on batter (Sammy Sosa) with 205 points in 2021, the year that he hit a single-season record 73 home runs. Judge has Ohtani, a fantastic batter and brilliant talent himself, on 229 points in the last calendar year. Judge surpasses the rest of the competition more than bonds in 2001.

Now 33, Judge has made the habit of not only taking, but somehow gets better with the age. In 2017 he hit a Rookie Record 52 Home Runs. In 2022 he made a record of a single season of the American League 62 Homers. His 2024 was even better than his 2022 on a speed base. Judge hit four fewer homers but had a higher percentage based on the base and slugging.

Since 2022, Judge .312/.438/.678 (209 Ops+) and an average of 60 home runs per 162 games. Ignoring the pandemic-oriented 2020 season, only had 20 players in the history of Al/NL a 200 OPS+ season, and those 20 players combined it 51 times. Judge did it in parts of four seasons and nearly 2,000 record performances.

Most 200 Ops+ seasons

1. Babe Ruth: 11
2. Barry Bonds: 6
3. Ted Williams: 6
4. Rogers Hornby: 4
5. Ty Cobb: 3
6. Lou Gehrig: 3
7. Mickey Mantle: 3
8. Aaron Judge: 2

Judge’s 209 OPS+ Since 2022, something that has only been done 13 times by a right -handed Slagman in one season, and he has done it for more than three years. Simply put, the right is in the middle of one of the biggest attacking peaks ever. He starts to shift the limit of how well a batter can be towards his colleagues and the era in which he plays.

This season, Judge has brought his strikeout rate to a career-running 20.6% of his plate performances, which is a tick better than the average of 22.1%. With teammate Giancarlo Stanton Gejust, judge is the Exit Velocity King from Baseball. Nobody touches the ball more consistent, and now he also spreads less. More contact + unparalleled hard hit power = historical production.

At one point the judge will slow down, perhaps even within the following year or two now that he enters his mid -thirty, but there are no signs of decline in his game at the moment. He is not only as productive as always. He has been more productive than ever in the past calendar year. More productive than any hitter since bonds, real, and as productive as every right -handed Slagman ever.

“He’s great. He’s just so good at not leaving the battle zone,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone recently about Judge (via mlb.com). ‘So if you continue to make pitches against him, you have a chance. But he is so strong. People must be aware of how dangerous he is. You have to be perfect. If you are not, he can of course hurt you. He does a really good job with the help of the entire field, a little spraying the ball around now. ”