Yankees' Aaron Judge on absurd run not seen in Yanks history since Mickey Mantle's legendary 1961 season

Yankees’ Aaron Judge on absurd run not seen in Yanks history since Mickey Mantle’s legendary 1961 season originally appeared on The Sporting News

Somehow, it feels like the MVP Award has slipped away from New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge just a bit.

And while there’s no reason to hate on Cal Raleigh, it’s also incredibly ironic, because Judge is as hot as he’s ever been in his baseball life.

Over Judge’s last 15 games, these are his stats, via NY Yankees Stats:

.447 batting average
8 home runs
13 RBI
.606 OBP
1.000 SLG
1.606 OPS
20 runs
20 walks

Judge is the first Yankee with eight homers and 20 walks in a 15-game span since Mickey Mantle in 1961, according to that same post from NY Yankees Stats.

That 1961 season may have been Mantle’s best. It’s when he set the switch-hitter single-season homer record of 54 (since broken by Raleigh this season).

MORE: Mariners’ Josh Naylor is 4th player in MLB history with this stolen base feat

Mantle for a while was keeping up with Roger Maris, but eventually Maris pulled away to hit a then-AL record 61 homers.

But even amid that, Mantle was as good a hitter as anyone on the planet.

That’s what Judge is now, the best hitter on the planet.

Those numbers over any span of games are absurd. And really, eight homers and 20 walks in 15 games is almost unbelievable.

But not for Judge. He does things that are hard to believe, and he somehow makes them look easy.

There really isn’t anyone else in baseball like Aaron Judge, MVP or not.

MORE: Reds break unbreakable streak with huge moment in NL Wild Card race