HOUSTON — Aaron Judge turned 34 on Sunday. He celebrated the way he always does.
With a home run.
Judge crushed a solo shot off Astros starter Spencer Arrighetti in the sixth inning at Daikin Park, his 10th home run of the 2026 season. The Yankees lost 7-4. The eight-game winning streak ended. But for Judge, the day still produced a number worth remembering.
Ten home runs through 28 games. The last time he reached that mark this quickly was in 2022. That year ended with 62 home runs and an AL record that still stands.
A pace that echoes 2022
The 2022 season is the measuring stick for everything Judge does with a bat in his hands. That year, he broke Roger Maris’ American League record with 62 home runs, a mark that had stood for 61 years. He won his first MVP award by unanimous vote. He batted .311/.425/.686 and led the majors in home runs, RBI, runs scored and walks. He became the standard for what a generational power hitter looks like.
In 2026, Judge has matched the early-season speed of that historic run. He reached double-digit home runs through 28 games, the same rapid pace he was on at the start of his record-breaking campaign four years ago. He also hit 10 homers through April in 2025, the year he hit 53 and won his third MVP.
That gives him three seasons with at least 10 home runs through April. Only three other players in baseball history have done it as often. Barry Bonds did it four times, in 1996, 2000, 2001 and 2004. Gary Sheffield and Mark McGwire each did it three times.
Judge now stands alongside Sheffield and McGwire. He trails only Bonds in a category that measures the most sustained early-season power production in MLB history.
His Statcast numbers in 2026 back up the production entirely. His average exit velocity is 92.2 mph. His hard-hit rate is 53.2 percent. His barrel rate is 24.2 percent and his expected weighted on-base average is .425. These are not the numbers of a player riding a hot streak. They are the numbers of a player locked in at the plate.
A birthday tradition unlike any other
Judge has now hit a home run on his birthday three times as a Yankee. He homered on April 26 in both 2017 and 2022, and again Sunday when he turned 34.
That ties him for second on the Yankees’ all-time birthday home run list. Lou Gehrig holds the franchise record with four. Judge, Graig Nettles and Yogi Berra each have three.
The birthday homer Sunday also ended a six-game homerless stretch on the road trip. Judge had not gone deep since April 20, and the drought ended at the right moment, even if the Yankees could not complete the comeback.
The numbers in context
Judge enters the week with 378 career home runs, all as a Yankee. He passed Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra on the franchise all-time list during his 53-homer 2025 campaign. He now sits fourth in Yankees history, behind Babe Ruth (659), Mickey Mantle (536) and Lou Gehrig (493).
He is a three-time MVP, winning the award in 2022, 2024 and 2025. He is the only active player with three AL MVP awards. In 2024, he led the Yankees to the AL pennant for the first time in 15 years. In 2025, he won his first batting title to go with his third MVP.
FanGraphs’ ZiPS projection system estimated Judge would hit 42 home runs in 2026. At 10 through just 28 games, that projection may prove far too conservative.
The 2017 connection
Judge’s three seasons with 10-plus home runs through April span his career almost exactly. The first was 2017, his rookie year with the Yankees. He hit 52 home runs that season, set the rookie record and finished second in AL MVP voting. The second was 2025, when he hit 53 and won his third MVP. The third is 2026.
What those three Yankees seasons have in common, beyond the home run totals, is that Judge was fully healthy and driving the ball with authority from the very first week. Each time he has carried that kind of power into May and beyond, the season has produced something historic.
The Yankees have not won a World Series since 2009. Each April, the question is whether this roster has what it takes to end that drought. Judge’s early production gives fans every reason to believe the answer could be yes.
Sunday’s homer came in a loss. The Yankees fell to 18-10, their winning streak snapped after eight games. Arrighetti held the Yankees to just three hits over seven strong innings, and Judge’s solo shot in the sixth was the only offensive highlight for most of the afternoon.
The Yankees had scored runs in bunches all week. Sunday was different. A Yankees team that had looked nearly unstoppable went cold against a starter they should have handled. The lone highlight in seven innings was Judge turning on a 2-1 pitch and driving it over the fence on his birthday.
In a game where almost everything else went wrong, he was still Aaron Judge.
That is what 10 home runs through 28 games looks like. And it is exactly what the start of 2022 looked like too.
Can he go past his 2022 home run history? What do you think?
