Few sluggers can compare to Aaron Judge. As far as New York Yankees lore goes, the last player who put up the type of production he has was the incomparable Mickey Mantle.
Outside of the Yankees, the two names that come to mind are Barry Bonds, who may or may not have had some synthetic aid, and Mike Trout.
In late September, MLB Network analysts debated Trout and Judge. According to Steve Phillips, the former general manager for the New York Mets, he swung in Judge’s direction, taking the captain over the future Hall of Famer, Trout.
“I would go with Aaron Judge,” Phillips said on MLB Network. “I think he is gonna make a case to be the best right-handed hitter ever, in the history of baseball. He’s that good an offensive player, and he’s a solid defender in the outfield, and he can run better than you’d think for a guy that size, and I also think doing it in New York. I think to be able to deal with the production and expectation and to produce on a regular basis, I get it.”
Another case that Phillips made for Judge was his ability to handle the demands of being a superstar in New York, something few athletes have done as well as he has.
“Judge has taken a New York team, put them on his shoulders, and taken them to the postseason, he has not been great in the postseason, but he’s gotten there. I think that when I look at the entire picture and look at pure hitting, I think Judge is the better overall player.”
Trout has a few more years on Judge, but their career numbers are close. Trout has a total slash line of .294/.406/.570 with a 166 wRC+. Judge has hit .294/.413/.615 with a 178 wRC+.
Trout has the edge as far as Fangraphs WAR goes, but that is by virtue of his being in the league longer. Trout has an 87.2 career WAR, and Judge has 61.6.
In Judge’s career, he has had three different 200 wRC+ seasons, which is something Trout has never achieved. Judge had a 206 wRC+ in 2022, 220 in 2024, and 204 this season.
The last player to have a 200 wRC+ season over a full year was Bonds. That was in 2004, when he had a 233 wRC+. In Bonds’ career, he accomplished this four times. Bonds is a controversial figure for those PED allegations against him, and the one thing Judge can say is that his ability to post a 200 wRC+ is as natural as natural gets.
