Aaron Judge has done it again.
Another New York Yankees franchise record, shoved aside.
This time, the 6-foot-7 superstar set a new single-season mark in early July. That’s pretty hard to do.
The record: Single-season intentional walks.
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When Judge was intentionally walked on Wednesday night, it was his 24th of the season.
Mickey Mantle held the previous mark, of 23, set back in 1957, according to MLB Network’s Sarah Langs.
This comes with one caveat: Intentional walks weren’t tracked before 1955. So we don’t know how many times Babe Ruth or Lou Gehrig or Joe DiMaggio were given an intentional free pass in their primes.
That doesn’t lower the impressiveness of Judge’s record.
He could’ve set it earlier, back in one of those seasons when he hit 62 or 58 homers. But in part because his batting average is a career-best now, teams really, really don’t want to pitch to him. He’s pretty much eliminated any holes he had in his swing.
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Giving the big fella one free base feels a lot better to managers than giving him four when he inevitably connects for another home run.
And now he can build on this record the rest of the way, too.
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