Aaron Judge hit a 434-foot home run off Angels reliever Ryan Tepera to become the 10th player in MLB history to hit 50 home runs in more than one season.
Judge, who was born in California, ran around the bases after his eighth-inning solo home run to cheers of “M-V-P!” from the sold-out crowd at Angel Stadium, which included his parents and many Yankees fans.
Assuming he plays in every remaining Yankees game, Judge is now on track to hit 63 home runs this season.
It’s just another number, said Judge, who was intentionally walked twice Monday before going deep. It’s great, but I’m kind of upset we lost. It’s a close game we could’ve won.
In 2017, Judge set a rookie record with 52 home runs, which Pete Alonso broke two years later with 53.
Judge is the third Yankee to have multiple 50-homer seasons, joining Babe Ruth (four) and Mickey Mantle (two). Alex Rodriguez had one such season with the Yankees (2007, 54 homers) and two with the Rangers.
Yankees players have had 10 50-homer seasons, the most of any MLB franchise (five). Other franchises have two.
Judge is only the seventh player in MLB history to hit 50 home runs before September; Giancarlo Stanton hit 51 by Aug. 29 during his 59-homer season with the Miami Marlins in 2017.
It’s 50, and it’s August, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. It’s hard to wrap your mind around just how incredible of a season he’s had to this point. The one time they pitch to him he hits it off a rock. It’s really special what he’s doing.
It’s going to be a fun last month to see what he can do, Stanton added. I think he’s going to do something incredible. He already has. We’ve got a month more to watch.
Judge is batting .293/.393/.665 with 110 RBIs and chasing Roger Maris’ 1961 Yankees record of 61 homers. By August of 1961, Maris had 51 homers.
I’m not downplaying it. I just don’t like talking numbers, Judge said. We can talk about numbers and all that kind of stuff when the season’s over with, we can review it, but for right now most important thing for me is getting some wins.
Shohei Ohtani’s two-run homer in the fifth inning helped the Angels beat the Yankees. Judge (-900) and Ohtani (+600) had the shortest odds to win AL MVP, followed by Jose Ramirez (+8000) and Yordan Alvarez (+8000).
Judge called it a “home away from home” because so many Yankees fans were there, and boos were heard when the Angels intentionally walked him. Ohtani also had fun. Even if Judge was MVP.
It feels rewarding to be able to play in front of a crowd like this, Ohtani said through a team representative. It doesn’t matter who they are cheering for, I was able to have a lot of fun playing.
Judge predicts he’ll hit 50 home runs in a viral video from a batting cage. He got the number right but the year wrong.
Man, that video is a couple years old, Judge said. I was a little late on that one. I missed it whatever year that was, might have been ’19. Like I said, I try not to think about it. The offseason, you can dream. You write down goals and stuff you want to accomplish during the year, but once the season starts you’re out here competing. It’s about trying to lock down as many wins as you can.
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