MLB sportscaster discusses why Aaron Judge’s monstrous season might force rivals to rethink strategy

New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge is showing no signs of slowing down after claiming his second American League MVP award last season. The Yankees captain is the front-runner for the title this season as he leads several offensive charts.

Analyst Anthony McCarron made a case for the Yankees slugger to make history this year. According to McCarron, Judge is on pace to have 469 total bases by the end of the regular season, 12 more than Babe Ruth's tally in 1921, which was hailed as one of the greatest seasons by an MLB player. McCarron also highlighted that nobody has come close to Ruth's record despite players breaching the 400 total bases mark 30 times.

MLB podcaster Emmanuel Berbari reflected on McCarron's comments, saying that teams will start tinkering with their strategy against Judge and walk him more.

"I'm glad you brought up the historical comparison," he said on SNY. "This could literally be the greatest season of all time, and that's not a stretch. Aaron Boone talked about it the other day, he said, 'Aaron Judge hasn't gotten hot yet,' and I believe him. Judge has not had a two-week stretch where he's flipping eight-nine home runs out there.

"He hasn't done that yet and he's still looking at 60 homer pace, near .400 batting average. Also, factoring teams are going to start walking him more and more as the season moves along, so it's feasible .385-390 could stay firm because he's going to get a couple of walks a game. This could be the greatest season of all time."

Aaron Judge smokes 26th home run of the season to end drought against Garrett Crochet

The Yankees took on the Boston Red Sox on Friday, and Aaron Judge broke his duck against Garrett Crochet. The Red Sox ace had struck out Judge in six consecutive plate appearances before the reigning AL MVP smoked a solo home run in the ninth inning off Crochet to tie the game at 1-1.

It was Judge's 26th home run of the season, tying him with Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh at the top of the charts.

About the author

Chaitanya Prakash is an editor who covers US Sports at Sportskeeda. His first brush with sportswriting was in 2012 when the greatest football manager of all time, Sir Alex Ferguson, bid farewell to the beautiful game.

Although having started out professionally as a cricket writer in 2022, Chaitanya's curiosity and indiscriminate interest in all sports in general eventually introduced him to America's favorite pastime.

While Chaitanya's favorite player from the current crop is the dynamic Venezuelan Ronald Acuna Jr., his all-time favorite, however, is Pedro Martinez, for his self-belief and consistency. He also rates Jose Bautista's iconic bat flip in 2015 as his favorite moment in baseball history.

Chaitanya specializes in reporting on technical aspects of the game or analyzing patterns behind specific plays. He also likes pondering over players' self-assessments following the conclusion of a game as it helps him get an idea of how they think about the sport in general.

When not cheering for his favorites across sports, Chaitanya likes being transported to the past through a good war documentary or a historical documentary in general.

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Edited by Chaitanya Prakash