New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge was good, but not great in April.
He was great compared to the rest of the league, but if we measure his performance in the first month of the season with what he can do and what he did last year, he came up a bit short.
He slashed .261/.352/.511 with a .863 OPS in April: not bad at all, but still not quite Judge-ian.
He suffered a hip strain in late April and returned in early May, on the 9th.
Ever since he came back from his hip ailment, he has been magnificent.
You could say Judge’s 2022 version, the one that hit .311 and 62 home runs, is back.
Since returning from the IL, Aaron Judge has had a MONSTER month of May. 👀 pic.twitter.com/mV5NKnRul6
— MLB (@MLB) May 29, 2023
The tweet doesn’t show his incredible 1.261 OPS in May: for reference, he has a 1.111 mark last year in his historic, record-breaking performance.
He started off a bit slow, but is already closing in on his 2022 numbers, which is impressive considering the magnitude and the difficulty associated with them.
For the 2022 campaign as a whole, Judge is .291/.398/.633 with 15 round-trippers and a 1.031 OPS.
He is getting there, and as long as he is healthy, there is no stopping him.
He is showing that he is still very much in his prime at 31 years old.
The Yankees had to give him nine years and $360 million over the offseason, but it’s hard to see them regretting the deal.
With Judge leading the charge as a captain and clubhouse leader, the Yankees are 32-23 and seven games behind the Tampa Bay Rays for the AL East lead.
NEXT:
Aaron Judge Brought A Furry Friend To Yankee Stadium