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Aaron Judge has put up some unbelievable regular season numbers, but as the captain of the New York Yankees, he must win World Series titles starting in 2024. Aaron Judge’s gaudy regular season numbers are examined and his playoff struggles are quantified.
Then we look at other New York Yankee Captains, legends, and the number of World Series Championships they won. Yogi Berra once famously quipped, “It gets late early.” Indeed, it does, and it will for Judge as well. This article concludes with the concept of peak Judge. It may be later than you think.
Aaron Judge Career Statistics
Aaron Judge has put up superhuman regular season numbers. It would not be worthwhile to chronicle them, so we will hit the highlights here. Reading Aaron Judge’s career statistics is eye-watering. Judge has played nine seasons in the major leagues and in those nine seasons he batted .311 in 2021, the year he hit 62 home runs and set an American League record. He batted .322 this year, hit 58 home runs, and had 144 RBI. He has surpassed 50 home runs three times, 110 RBI three times, and he has accrued over an 8.0 WAR three times.
WAR is wins above replacement and measures exactly that, how many wins Aaron Judge would be worth over an average replacement. Anything over six is considered elite, so Judge is elite. This season Aaron Judge reached a career three hundred home runs. That’s faster than anyone who has played baseball. He currently has 315. That is saying something. He will win the American League Most Valuable Player this season and could retire now and make the Baseball Hall of Fame. All that said, his post-season struggles are baffling and well-documented.
Aaron Judge’s Playoff Struggles
Like Judge’s regular season struggles it does not make sense here to recount a year-by-year rendering of Aaron Judge’s postseason statistics The fact that he has struggled is well known. Judge has appeared in the postseason every year of his career other than last season. Over that time he has appeared in 53 postseason games and he has batted a mere .203. He struck out 79 times in 202 at-bats. He has just 41, 15 of which are home runs. These poor playoff offensive numbers will not cut it. Historically, great Yankees have thrived in the playoffs. It is how they got famous.
Past Yankee Captains
When looking at the past Yankees greats it makes sense to look at Yankee captains through the years. Judge is currently the Captain of the Yankees, the best job in sports. There have been sixteen Yankee Captains. They are listed here with their years as captain and number of World Series titles.
Hal Chase- 1910-1912, 0
Roger Peckinpaugh- 1914-1922, 0
Babe Ruth- 1923, 7
Everett Scott- 1923-1925, 4 total, though only 1 with the Yankees.
Lou Gehrig- 1925-1939, 7 total. When Gehrig died, the Yankees refused to name another captain for almost 40 years. They won many World Series titles in that time and had countless great players.
Post-Gehrig Captains
Thurman Munson- 1976-1978, 2 total
Greg Nettles- 1982-1984, 2 total
The Yankees did not win any World Series in the 1980s but did have baseball’s best record.
Willie Randolph and Ron Guidry- 1986-1988, 4 between them.
Don Mattingly 1991-1995- Mattingly also never won a World Series. He never won a playoff series either, though he did bat over .400 in five playoff games.
Derek Jeter 2003-2014- 5 total
Aaron Judge- 2023 -present, 0
Peak Judge
When Judge hit his 300th home run faster than anyone had an informal survey revealed most people think Judge will hit 500 home runs in his career. If he hits 50 a year for the next four years he will probably hit more. But, if those experts are correct he is approximately 60% through his career.
The Yankees need to win the World Series when Judge is at his best, his peak. That may only last for a couple of more seasons, four if we, and he, are lucky. The Yankees need to continue to surround Judge with great players and they need to win now with Judge at his peak. We are lucky to be witnessing what Judge is doing. However, he is unlikely to do it much longer. Plus he has struggled in his postseason opportunities. He and the Yankees need to win the World Series this year with Judge at his peak.
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