No. 300! Judge fastest to milestone, which follows … intentional walk?!
Captain’s 3-0 blast comes after Soto’s free pass: ‘I was mad …’
Bryan Hoch
CHICAGO — Within the Yankees’ traveling party, there was no question that Aaron Judge would soon claim rights as the fastest player to reach 300 home runs in terms of both at-bats and games played, mere checkpoints as the captain continues on an express path toward greatness. Yet no one envisioned it coming quite like this.
When Juan Soto received an intentional walk ahead of Judge, the move prompted bemused headshakes, followed by anticipation that history was in the making. Judge delivered, launching a Chad Kuhl sinker into the left-field bullpen to claim his milestone in the Bombers’ 10-2 victory over the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field.
“It’s a great achievement,” Judge said. “I’ve been in the game a little while now, I guess. We’ve still got a long way to go. I was hoping it would come in a win.”
Judge’s Major League-leading 43rd home run came in the eighth inning, a three-run shot that put the Yankees up by seven runs at the time. It came in Judge’s 955th career game, obliterating a Major League record previously held by Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner, who hit his first 300 home runs in 1,087 games.
Arguably even more impressively, Judge’s 300th homer came in his 3,431st at-bat; Judge got there 400 at-bats quicker than Babe Ruth, who hit his 300th homer in his 3,831st at-bat. Mark McGwire (3,837) and Kiner (3,883) had the next fastest paces in history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
“What Aaron is doing is among a select few in the history of the game,” said manager Aaron Boone. “You start talking about these kinds of seasons he’s having; he’s a great player, great leader, and I think everyone’s really pumped in there that he got it done.”
Others to reach 300 home runs in notable amounts of games played have included: Ryan Howard (1,093), Juan González (1,096), Alex Rodriguez (1,117), Judge’s teammate Giancarlo Stanton (1,119), Harmon Killebrew (1,137), McGwire (1,148), Albert Pujols (1,165), Albert Belle (1,171) and Ruth (1,173).
“Those are some guys that have done a lot of great things in this game,” Judge said. “You throw around a lot of those names to even people that don’t know baseball, and they know who they are. It’s a special group to be in. It’s just an honor to be in the same category as them, and mentioned in the same sentence.”
Not surprisingly, the intentional walk marked Soto’s first of the season, coming during a series in which he homered in four consecutive at-bats, including a first-inning blast off Davis Martin. Seeing first base open after Alex Verdugo’s run-scoring double, White Sox interim manager Grady Sizemore shrugged and opted to roll the dice.
“It’s just pick your poison. I’m not trying to get to Judge,” Sizemore said. “I’ve got a base open. [Soto has] had four homers on us. I guess there is no solution or easy way out of that jam. Soto has definitely been the hotter of those two bats, even though Judge has been hot, too.”
Only once in Judge’s career had there been an intentional walk ahead of him: on Aug. 31, 2016, when the Royals issued Chase Headley a free pass to set up a potential double play with Judge, then a rookie batting .196.
Like the Michael Jordan meme from the “Last Dance” documentary series, Judge seemed to take it personally, admitting: “I was mad about the intentional walk.”
“That was crazy. I didn’t believe it,” said Yankees catcher Austin Wells. “It didn’t work out too well.”
Added teammate Oswaldo Cabrera: “We know our Cap. We know in that moment, he’s going to be like, ‘OK, I’ve got this.’ It probably feels disrespectful for him. For that reason, it probably fired him up in that at-bat. You see what happened.”
Kuhl tossed his first three pitches out of the strike zone, prompting some (including Soto at first base) to believe the White Sox were planning to walk Judge, too.
“I don’t know what they were thinking,” Soto said. “I’m thinking, it’s 3-0, they’re going to bury a ball and throw it on the ground and walk him, too. They actually threw something close to the strike zone; I was really shocked.”
The fourth pitch sailed inside; Judge said he’d usually take a pitch in that situation, but the free pass had irked him. Judge pummeled it, ripping a Statcast-calculated 361-foot blast into the left-field bullpen, where it was retrieved by security.
Judge said he’d likely gift the ball to his wife, Samantha. He seemed most touched by his teammates’ reactions, which he said was “the coolest part.”
“As I rounded first, I was kind of pointing to the bullpen. I saw those guys jumping around, dancing, which was pretty cool,” Judge said. “And then to come to home plate and I’ve got Marcus Stroman, the first guy out of the dugout. I’ve got [Anthony] Volpe out there. I’ve got all those guys out there. That means a lot.
“These guys grind with me every single day, and I know the hard work they put in. They see what I do. So that was pretty special.”
Wells followed by greeting Steven Wilson with a homer. Like in Judge’s Major League debut, when he followed a Tyler Austin homer by going deep, Judge’s milestone included back-to-back blasts with an Austin.
“For him to achieve that, it’s just amazing,” Wells said. “He’s still so young in his career, so I’m excited to see what he continues to do.”
Though Soto said he didn’t realize in the moment that Judge’s homer represented a significant round number, he also envisions many, many more to come.
“I hope he breaks the home run record. Why not?” Soto said. “I think he’s the guy who can literally break the record. He’s been showing up all the time. I hope he has the health to do it. I’m going to enjoy this as much as I can, too.”
