NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 17: Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees celebrates his fifth-inning, two-run home run against the Chicago White Sox with his teammates in the dugout at Yankee Stadium on April 17, 2017 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge has been, without question, the biggest story of baseball season so far. He has come from relative obscurity to post one of the best rookie seasons we’ve ever seen, hitting the ball with impossible force and whacking home runs at a near-unprecedented pace.

Entering the All-Star break, the 25-year-old rookie is hitting .329/.448/.691 with 30 dingers. And however impressive you think that stat line is, it’s probably even more impressive. Let’s dive into the stats to see just how remarkable Judge’s season has been.

Judge might be the best rookie of all time


Judge could miss the rest of the season and still unanimously claim AL Rookie of the Year honors. According to FanGraphs, he has more than *three times* as much WAR as the next-best American League newcomer, the Mariners’ Ben Gamel.

But comparing Judge to 2017 rookies is almost unfair (shoutout to Cody Bellinger, though). He needs to be held up against all-time great rookie seasons.

Judge currently boasts a 197 wRC+ (meaning he’s been 97 percent better than league average as a hitter, adjusted for park effects). Extended over a full season, that would be by far the highest in baseball history for a rookie (minimum 350 plate appearances), besting Shoeless Joe Jackson in 1911. Judge needs 19 home runs to top Mark McGwire’s 1987 record for home runs by a rookie, which at his current pace would be no sweat. It’s only the All-Star break, and Judge already ranks tied for 22nd in home runs in a rookie season.

By FanGraphs WAR, the best rookie season ever belongs to Mike Trout with 10.3 WAR in 2012. Well the Yankees have played only 86 games, and Judge is currently at 5.5 WAR. If he somehow maintains that pace, he’ll finish with 10.4 WAR, meaning by that measure he is so far having the greatest rookie season… of all time.

But Judge isn’t just amazing for a rookie — he’s amazing for any player


Here are the categories in which Judge leads Major League Baseball:

Home runs – 30
On-base percentage – .448
Slugging percentage – .691
OPS – 1.139
OPS+ – 194
wOBA – .466
wRC+ – 197
Baseball-Reference WAR – 5.3
FanGraphs WAR – 5.5

He also tops the American League in batting average (.329), ranks second in baseball in runs scored (75) and is four off the MLB lead in RBIs (66).

It is difficult—though not impossible—to find a measure by which Judge has not been the best player in baseball so far this season.

A rookie who never ranked in the top 15 of any prospect list and entered the season batting eighth for the Yankees has been better so far than Bryce Harper, Kris Byrant, Nolan Arenado, Anthony Rizzo, Manny Machado, Paul Goldschmidt, Joey Votto, Buster Posey, Corey Seager and every other player in baseball. In March, no one on Earth would have believed that. In July, it still strains the imagination, even as it’s true.

And he’s not just amazing relative to players in 2017 — he’s amazing relative to all players ever

Since 1900, only 11 players have posted a wRC+ of 200 or better over the course of a season (those 11 have combined for 31 such seasons). All are Hall of Famers, except steroid-tainted Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds.

Judge, currently at 197, has a legitimate chance to join that list.

He could also very well become the 13th player ever to hit 55 homers in a season or the sixth player to hit 60.

If you look at recent history, the stats get even more impressive. No player in the past 12 years has posted a slugging percentage or OPS as high as Judge’s. Only Bryce Harper in 2015 has matched his wRC+. It’s extremely easy to argue that Judge is having the best offensive season since Barry Bonds.

The problem with this whole exercise is that Judge will almost surely not repeat his first-half performance in the second-half because his BABIP is absurdly high (.426) and because common sense says it’s hard to hit like an all-time great over the course of six months.

But for now, as we sit at the All-Star break and gawk at Aaron Judge’s numbers, we should note that this guy isn’t just having a great rookie season, and he’s not just having a great season relative to his 2017 peers. So far, at least, he’s having a season for the history books.

About Alex Putterman

Alex is a writer and editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. He has written for The Atlantic, VICE Sports, MLB.com, SI.com and more. He is a proud alum of Northwestern University and The Daily Northwestern. You can find him on Twitter @AlexPutterman.