Poll: Who is the best right-handed hitter of the 21st century?
Aaron Judge is once again chasing down history in the Bronx. Two seasons after setting the AL single-season home run record by swatting 62 in 2022, Judge may now be having one of the greatest non-steroid seasons since Ted Williams in the late '50s.
After clubbing two more homers last night, Judge is hitting .337/47/117 in 125 games, with a .722 slugging percentage (MLB average - .414) and a 1.187 OPS (MLB average - .750). He's on pace for 60 home runs, which would make him the first player in the game's history with multiple 60+ homer seasons who hasn't been associated with steroids.
Forget that pace for a second, though, because in his last 90 games, Judge has 41 HR and 97 RBI in 317 at bats. That's a record-setting 74 home run pace over 162 games, while the 97 RBI translates to 175 over a full season. His AL HR record from two years ago may not be safe at his current rate. What he's doing right now is simple otherworldly and the stuff that myths were made of 80 years ago.
So, is 2022 and this year, not to mention 52 homers in 2017, 39 in '21 and 37 last year, enough to consider Judge among the game's greatest right-handed bats this century?
The other candidates -
Albert Pujols - 703 HR (4th-most all-time), 3x MVP, 11x All-Star.
*Alex Rodriguez - 548 HR (since 2000), 3x MVP, 11x All-Star. Note, the asterisk.
*Manny Ramirez - 357 HR (since 2000), '04 World Series MVP, 9x All-Star, eight 100 RBI seasons. Again, like A-Rod, note the asterisk for obvious reasons.
Miguel Cabrera - .306 career average, 511 HR, 3,174 hits, back-to-back MVP's ('12 + '13), 12x All-Star, four batting titles.
Mike Trout - Active career leader in WAR (86.1), 378 HR, 3x MVP, 11x All-Star.
Who gets your vote?