Down the stretch of the 2025 Major League Baseball season, there was a lot of kerfuffle about who should win the American League’s Most Valuable Player award. And with all due respect to the excellent year of Jose Ramirez of the Cleveland Guardians, it was unanimously understood to be a two-horse race.
In the end, New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge won the award, his second MVP victory in a row and his third in the last four seasons, besting the 60-home run and vibe-heavy breakout season of Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh. The accolade puts Judge into the extremely rare group of players through the entirely of MLB history to have won at least three MVP awards, a group featuring only 13 players ever.
This alone is evidence of the fact that Aaron Judge is one of the best to ever do it. He is really good. But even to the casual Yankees fan, it perhaps sometimes is not understood how good he really is.
Aaron Judge, Sabermetrics Darling
Perhaps the most flattering demonstration of the transcendent excellence of Judge’s last four years comes from the modern statistical staple that is Weighted Runs Created Plus.
There have only been seven players ever in major league history to have posted a wRC+ of at least 200 in more than one season, with a minimum of 500 plate appearances. The human anomaly that was Babe Ruth leads the way with nine, Ted Williams is second with six, Barry Bonds is alone in third with four – and Judge is alone in fourth with three. Ahead of Ty Cobb, ahead of Mickey Mantel, ahead of Rogers Hornsby, and ahead of everyone else you can think of.
A WRC+ of 200 means being twice as good as the average player, as the metric is designed for the average player to have a WRC+ rating of 100. Functionally, then, this means that an Aaron Judge at-bat is equal to having Jasson DomÃnguez hit from both sides of the plate at the same time in the same plate appearance while still only counting for one out. And it is like that for every at-bat Judge has.
Also Holds Multiple Old School Records
Beyond that, Judge also has numerous accolades relating to his power numbers.
Judge is one of only four players in MLB history to have recorded as many four 50+ home run seasons, joining Ruth, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa in that elite company. Even Bonds, the game’s all-time home run leader, only did it once. Heading into the 2026 season, Judge’s .615 career slugging percentages ranks as high as sixth all-time, behind only Ruth, Williams, fellow Yankee great Lou Gehrig, and two old-timers with the incredible names of Mule Suttles and Turkey Stearnes. And of course, Judge is not merely a slugger – his career .289 batting average is considerably higher than the contemporary average, and he is an annual Triple Crown candidate.
If there were indeed to ever be a Mount Rushmore of hitters, then Ruth, Williams and Bonds are going to be widely considered as three of those sculpted. At this rate, in light of his play over these past four seasons, Judge is making a strong case to be the fourth. The main thing counting against him is the longevity of his greatness, and the risk of some Albert Pujols-esque career bipolarity exists until it does not. But as things stand today, he is on the path to the very, very, very, very best there ever were.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post One Stat Shows How Aaron Judge is Even Better Than You Think appeared first on Heavy Sports.