Judge creates a "stealth epic year" The 33-year-old Yankee Heavy Cannon continues to write the legend

While we won't pretend that Aaron Judge has lacked media acclaim over the past five years — from video game covers to two American League MVP trophies — there's a risk that the extraordinary greatness he's displayed every night is becoming... Usually. Even taken for granted.

While Shohei Ohtani hit the 50 and got ready to return to the pitcher's mound, and when Elly De La Cruz flew like Superman to the skies, Judge continued his nine-year consistent performance: destroying baseball.

Is this ordinary? No longer worth paying attention to? Far from it. Quite the opposite, in fact.

As of Friday, Judge's 0.415/0.513/0.734 attack trips in the first 25 games of the season were not only his career-best April, but also close to the best April in MLB history — ranking in the top 10 all-time for an attack index (OPS) of players with at least 100 players, 2.5 times the league average.

But it wasn't even his personal best month compared to the league average, and he didn't even finish in the top five.

This may happen when you're riding your ninth consecutive Season of Excellence and are about to complete your third historic season in four years. Judge, who turns 33 on Saturday, now has an Age-Adjusted Offensive Index (OPS+) of 175, which is tied for third among former 33-year-olds in MLB history, behind "Babe" and "Ted" (two legends who don't need to be named).

In 2022, Judge had the fifth-best season of a modern MLB right-hand hitter with 210 OPS+; In 2024, he will set a new record for the best right-player in history with 223 OPS+, taking two of the top six spots in history; 2025 is off to a strong start – and while it's impossible to maintain a batting average of 0.415, he's on track to achieve the feat of "twice the league average in offensive efficiency" for the third time.

The only MLB players in MLB history to achieve this feat three or more times are Ruth, Bonds, Williams and Hornsby. At the same time, legends such as Hank Aaron, A-Rod (Alex Rodriguez), Joe DiMaggio, Albert Pujols, Mike Schmidt and others have never done it once.

"He's Tony Gwynn this week and Hank Aaron next week," Yankee teammate Carlos Rodón laughed after Wednesday's win over the Guardians. But compare the data before the age of 33: Judge has a better long batting rate than Allen, and a base rate that crushes Gwen.

Ordinary? None of this has anything to do with the ordinary.

Looking back at last season, Judge went into a rare slump with 0.754 OPS in April, which was still one of the worst months of his Yankee career. Towards the end of the month, he regained his form by adjusting his position (MLB.com reporter David Adler (David Adler) has explained in detail). Since then, he has posted an 11.2 WAR season, the highest single-season performance since the 21st century (better than any of Ohtani's single-season performances).

Watch its data for the last 365 days (as of Friday):

• 162 matches contributed 13.7 WAR
• Hit the measurements 0.360/0.489/0.762
• 62 bombs, mainly guarding the middle and outer fields

It's an "Invisible Epic Year" – if you go back to 1901, when the United League was founded, 13.7 WAR would be tied for the second-best single season in history, close to Ruth's peak year. While the WAR value has been adjusted for era differences, it does not take into account the era factors such as Ruth playing all-day battles, not traveling by plane, and only facing seven teams in the unintegrated race league.

Historical Season WAR Rankings (1901 onwards)
14.7 // Ruth, 1923
13.7 // Ruth, 1921 (equivalent to Judge in the last 365 days)
13.1 // Ruth, 1920
12.9 // Ruth, 1927
12.7 // Bonds, 2002
12.5 // Bonds, 2001
12.4 // Gehrig, 1927

Pure Offensive Dimension (wRC+): Judge has surpassed Bonds' 244 in 2002 with wRC+ 245 in the last 365 days. To be clear, we can't trace any 365-day period for each player in their entirety – for example, Bonds recorded 14.2 WAR/253 wRC+ in the year following the resumption of 911 (2001.9.18-2002.9.17). Therefore, although it cannot be asserted that this is the "strongest natural year in history", it is indeed within the scope of historical discussion.

Although WAR accuracy diminishes with age, a season of about 14 WAR is still the human limit. Although Judge reached 300 hits at the fastest speed, it was difficult to hit the cumulative record due to factors such as the 25-year-old only entering the new year, the 2020 shrinking season and injuries. The real brilliance lies in its value per game – 8.7 WAR per 162 games – a career efficiency rating of 8.7 WAR, second only to Ruth (10.8), Hornsby (9.3), Williams (9.2) and Mike Trout (9.1), and on par with Black League legends Willie Wells (8.7) and Gehrig (8.7).

Judge won't be the best hitter of all time – a title that will forever belong to Ruth, the revolutionizing baseball, Williams ahead of his time, or Bonds, the unprecedented. But as a right-hand hitter, he currently tops the all-time list with 175 wRC+ (at least 1,500 seats). The bronze statue has long been predetermined, and he will either create the strongest natural year in history, or he will be infinitely close.

When the greatness of reliability becomes the norm because it never fades? We don't think so. We firmly believe that the extraordinary is the ultimate form of true greatness.