Aaron Judge’s 2025 is in rare air. His 53 home runs and 1.144 OPS for the New York Yankees are one of twenty instances in the history of the sport where a player hit over 50 home runs and had an OPS over 1.100.
Judge’s Place in History
The two most recent examples of such a feat occurred in 2024 and 2022. Judge authored both years, and in both years, he won the MVP award. The last player to do it before him was Jim Thome, back in 2002, for the Cleveland Indians.
Judge is also one of five players to hit over 50 homers and have a 1.100 OPS multiple times. He did it three times. Jimmie Foxx did it twice. Mickey Mantle did it twice. Mark McGwire did it three times. Babe Ruth did it four times. Surprisingly, the only time Barry Bonds did it was for his record-setting 73 home run year in 2001.
Raleigh vs. Judge
Cal Raleigh indeed had a more historic year for a catcher. However, despite the demanding position, defense wasn’t enough for voters to set him apart from Judge. According to Baseball Savant, his 7 Fielding Run Value was only two runs higher than Judge’s in 2025. Judge accumulated a 5 Fielding Run Value, despite being hurt at the end of the season. Defense wasn’t a good enough argument for Raleigh.
What Judge did in 2025 was so rare that, outside of Thome, the only other slugger to do it in our lifetime was Bonds, and many say that season carries an asterisk. This is why it feels ridiculous even to use history as an argument for Raleigh. Yeah, what he did hasn’t ever happened, but Judge sits among the gods of baseball as far as who his comps are. This may be the norm for Raleigh moving forward, but playing at a historic level is absolutely the norm for Judge.
A Humble MVP
For all his greatness, Judge has a bashful way of describing what he did. In fact, he would swap it away for a more team-oriented accolade, according to Gary Phillips of the Daily News.
“I’d trade every award I’ve gotten and every All-Star appearance for an opportunity to win a championship,” Judge said of his historic season.
This is just who Judge is. You will never see him gloat. He’d rather point to his teammates than himself.
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