Aaron Judge isn’t falling away from the magic number.
It’s June 7, and the New York Yankees superstar is batting .397.
The feeling all along, lying under the surface for baseball fans who may not have even realized they were thinking it, is that eventually, Judge has to drop further away from .400. Doesn’t he?
But this isn’t a small sample size. It certainly isn’t a fluke.
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Judge is the greatest hitter on the planet, one of the greatest hitters ever, and he’s officially chasing history that hasn’t been made since Ted Williams batted .406 in 1941.
Is there still a long way to go? Of course.
The Yankees have played 62 games. They’ve still got to play 100 more.
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Judge so far is 92-for-232 at the plate. He’ll probably have to end up something like 240-for-600 to wind up as a .400 hitter.
Would you totally bet against him going 148-for-368 the rest of the way? It doesn’t sound impossible.
It’s just something no one has come close to in recent years. Pitching has gotten so good, and so has defensive positioning. Hitting it where they ain’t has never been so challenging.
Judge solves some of that by hitting the ball over the fence often, with 21 homers so far. He also has 17 doubles and two triples.
But that means this 6-foot-7 legend also has 52 singles. He’s a phenomenal hitter, all the way around.
Challenges arise over a long season. Maybe a little injury here or there, or one cold streak that really derails the chase.
But it’s time to start checking Judge’s batting average every morning. There may not be a newspaper box score to look at, but there are plenty of other ways to keep up.
Aaron Judge is putting .400 firmly in his sights. He just might catch it.
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