Yankees’ Aaron Judge keeps making MLB history not done since Barry Bonds originally appeared on The Sporting News
Aaron Judge is so good at hitting that the only real comparison in modern times is Barry Bonds.
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Yet somehow, it feels like the MLB world almost takes Judge for granted. He’s so consistently remarkable that it seems normal when the New York Yankees’ 6-foot-7 slugger does yet another amazing thing.
But there’s one stat that sums up his brilliance as much as any other.
Since Bonds retired, only one hitter has ever reached a 200 OPS+ in a season. That’s a mark that puts OPS (on-base plus slugging) on a scale where 100 is league average and every point one way or the other equates to a percent.
The only hitter with a 200 OPS+ in a season since Bonds retired is Judge.
And he’s done it three times.
An OPS+ of 200 means a hitter is 100 percent better than league average, or put another way, doubly as good as league average.
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Judge keeps exceeding that mark. In the process, he continues to make his case as the greatest right-handed hitter ever.
Don’t take this for granted. There may never be another hitter quite like Aaron Judge.
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