Too much attention is being paid to Aaron Judge’s pursuit of Babe Ruth, Roger Maris and various Yankees / right-handed / American League home run records.
It’s not that it’s not noteworthy, or incredible, or historic. It’s obviously all those things, and more. It’s just that if all we talk about are the homers, then we risk missing out on the totality of the .316/.419/.701 season that Judge is having at the plate. This isn’t an “empty” 40 home run season, like some of the years where those sluggers barely had an OBP above .300. This is, by any measure, one of history’s greatest all-around hitting seasons – and that includes the 91% of his plate appearances where he’s not hitting balls into the stratosphere.
The measure we’ll go with to back that up: OPS+. It’s adjusted for park and era, and compares a player’s performance to the rest of the league that season, setting the league average as “100,” which this year is basically what Josh Donaldson is doing.
Judge’s OPS+ is 213. It makes him more than twice as good as a league average 2022 batter. It is one of the 25 best seasons in Major League history; it’s one of just 50 seasons all time to see a 200 OPS+ or better.
