Aaron Judge made history in 2022 when he hit his 62nd home run of the season, setting a new American League record.
Will he mirror his feat this year?
“You never know,” the New York Yankees star said on Monday following a team workout in Tampa, Fla.
“I don’t really like putting a number on it,” he told reporters including the Associated Press. “I just kind of like going out there and trying to control what I can control, but you never know what could happen. So, we’ll see about 62.”
The 62nd homer had Judge in the company of the Great Babe Ruth and Roger Maris which only added to a historic season.
Judge was named AL MVP, earning an All-Star select and a Silver Slugger Award.
And the numbers … whew boy.
He led all of Major League Baseball with those 62 long balls of course, but also with 131 RBI, a .425 on-base percentage, slugging .686 with a 1.111 OPS.
His .311 average was the cherry on top of a season that earned him a nine-year, $360 million contract, which will keep him sporting pinstripes for the rest of his career. That’s an annual average salary of $40,000,000 for those of you keeping score at home.
He also earned the captain title — the first for the Yankees since Hall of Fame shortstop Derek Jeter.
“Last year was fun chasing history and having those moments,” Judge added. “Every time we play in New York I feel like you’re chasing history. It’s never a cakewalk in the Bronx, that’s for sure. You have to embrace those challenges.”
However, Judge is keeping his eyes on a World Series win for the Yankees. A feat they haven’t mastered since 2009.
“It bothers me, and I think it bothers the group as well,” Judge said, “Every year we don’t finish what we started, it wears on us in different ways. I think every failure pushes you towards that ultimate goal.”
That goal has never changed for Judge since the beginning.
