Aaron Judge is at it again. A season after running away with AL MVP honors, the New York Yankees superstar is off to the best start of his career, batting .412 and already producing 4.0 WAR a quarter of the way into the 2025 season.
Can Judge keep this up? Will he top his own AL record for home runs? And can anyone keep him from winning a Triple Crown or repeating as unanimous MVP?
We set over/unders based on Judge’s ridiculous pace and asked our MLB experts to predict where his otherworldly season will go from here.
Aaron Judge’s xBA is .362. Will his actual batting average for the season be over/under that?
Jorge Castillo: Under. One player has batted at least .350 over a full season since 2010: Luis Arraez, whose contact-first approach is so extreme that he has drawn comparisons to Tony Gwynn. Not one player has finished a season .360 or better since Joe Mauer in 2009. In short, it’s just super difficult to sustain such a high average nowadays when hitting is harder than ever.
Judge’s .481 BABIP is significantly higher than his career mark of .344 entering the season, which strongly suggests a regression in this department is coming. Simply winning the batting title would be an extraordinary accomplishment for the 6-foot-7 slugger.
Bradford Doolittle: Under. All told, Judge’s xBA is .340 since he changed his batting stance last season. Month by month, he has topped .362 twice — the current month and last May — post-tweak. He has mostly been over .300 each month but has been as low as .277. So .362 is too high, but .340, a realistic target, is pretty amazing itself.
Jeff Passan: Under. He is currently batting .410 — with a .481 average on balls in play. Judge’s lifetime BABIP is .351. Even if he winds up hitting .400 on balls in play, the sheer volume of strikeouts — he’s punching out in 20.9% of his plate appearances — severely limits anyone’s ability to post an average as high as .360. The highest K rate ever for a hitter over .360 was Andres Galarraga at 14.4% (when he hit .370 for the 1993 Rockies). It’s foolish to doubt that Judge can do anything, but the numbers simply don’t support this being a reality.
David Schoenfield: Under. For all the reasons Jeff outlined. The best chance for Judge to hit .360 would be to draw a lot of walks and thus make each hit count more, but he’s walking less often than last season. Then there’s just the sheer difficulty of hitting that high in this era. Not counting the short season of 2020, the last right-handed batter to hit .360 was Magglio Ordonez at .363 with the Tigers in 2007 — a year in which the AL average was .271, almost 30 points above this year’s average of .242.
Judge’s current OPS+ is 257. Will he finish the year over or under his career high of 225 set last year.
Castillo: Over. Around this time a year ago Judge was just beginning his historic five-month onslaught after a sluggish April, and he still finished with the highest OPS+ since Barry Bonds’ ridiculous 2004 season (263). Offensive production across the majors is down (slightly) from last season so far, making Judge’s sustained excellence even more mind-blowing. And that context is necessary when evaluating his OPS+ prospects. Judge would have to experience a significant dropoff to not eclipse last season’s number.
Doolittle: Over. It’ll be close, but I’ll take the over. His expected stats supported an even higher OPS+ than he finished with in 2024 and those numbers are on target to at least repeat that level. I don’t see the league levels spiking, which matters a lot in the OPS+ calculation. The higher the league level, the more air has to come out of raw OPS figures. I think he’ll land at around 230.
Passan: Over. This is the best version of Judge yet in his illustrious 10-year career. He’s striking out less than ever and continues to hit the ball with his typical velocity and ferocity. And with offense around the sport as weak as it is, a number like OPS+ — which is measured by a player’s numbers compared to league averages — is ripe to be exploited.
Schoenfield: Over. Last year, he had a slow start when he had a .754 OPS in April and still finished with that 225 OPS+. This version of Judge appears slump-proof. Even when he had a stretch in April when he homered just once in 20 games, he managed to hit .425/.528/.546 to keep that OPS high.
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Passan: ‘This is the best version of Aaron Judge that we have ever seen’
Jeff Passan joins the “The Pat McAfee Show” to talk about Aaron Judge’s hot start to the season for the Yankees.
Judge is on pace for 56.5 home runs. Will he go over/under that total?
Castillo: Over. Between cold temperatures and consistent rain, the Yankees have dealt with some miserable weather — home and away — in the early going. It’s only a matter of time until the weather warms up. Judge will take advantage when it does.
Doolittle: Over. He has actually been hitting the ball on the ground much more than usual with his flyballs being reduced. That may be an evolved approach, but I still expect that distribution to level out closer to his career norms — which means more fly balls. Judge’s fly balls tend to leave the ballpark, so I think he’ll get to 60 again.
Passan: Over. Judge has yet to go on one of his home run jags — during a 20-game stretch in April, he hit just one — and when that happens, it’s going to put him in position to make a run at the 62 he hit in 2022.
Schoenfield: Not including June and July of 2023, when he hurt his toe and played just five games, Judge has averaged 10 home runs per month — with half of May still to go. Give him five more home runs in May and 40 from June through September and we get 59. Over.
Judge has already posted 4.0 FanGraphs WAR in 2025. Will he surpass his career high of 11.2 from last season?
Castillo: Over. He’s on pace to smash 11.2. If he stays healthy, he’ll threaten to surpass Bonds’ 11.9-WAR season in 2004 and enter the top 10 of all time in the category.
Doolittle: Over. At Baseball-Reference (not the WAR number cited here), his individual winning percentage, based on wins above average, is .568; last year it was .554, so there’s a buffer there against some regression. Playing exclusively in right should boost Judge’s fielding plus/minus metrics and at least offset any hit he might take in positional value. He just needs to stay healthy and he’ll get to 12 wins, at least.
Passan: Over. This is a tough one because of the whims of single-year defensive and baserunning metrics. Judge last season was considered a below-average defender and slightly below-average baserunner. Thus far this year, he is an average defender and poor baserunner.
The offense is always going to be there. The question is the marginal elements that can earn those differentiating tenths of a WAR. It would be his third season with a WAR of 11 or higher in four years, by the way. The only players ever to do that are Babe Ruth and Barry Bonds.
Schoenfield: He’s on pace for nearly 14 WAR. We just said he seems slump-proof. Over 11.2 WAR.
Judge currently leads the league in all three Triple Crown categories, will he finish atop the AL in over/under 2.5 of them?
Castillo: Over. See above: If Judge stays healthy, he’ll put together one of the greatest seasons ever and it’ll come with a Triple Crown. Batting average is the tallest challenge and RBI totals always depend on teammates being on base. But he already holds a near-50-point lead on the competition in batting average and the Yankees’ offense is good enough around him for consistent RBI opportunities.
Doolittle: As long as teams don’t start doing ill-advised, peak-Bonds stuff like walking Judge whenever someone is on base, I’ll take the over — even though winning a Triple Crown is an incredibly difficult thing to do. I just think this is where Judge is at this point of his career, which is a place few others have been to in the history of the sport.
Passan: Under. He’ll lead in home runs. The batting average element is scary, though — Judge’s career high to this point is .322 — and RBIs are so lineup-dependent. If Judge finds himself in the 3-hole more often, that element becomes less of a concern, but the combination of two categories not being stone-cold locks makes this a cautiously pessimistic bet. If anyone is going to win the Triple Crown, it’s Judge.
Schoenfield: I’ll go with the Triple Crown. He might not drive in 144 like he did last year with Juan Soto hitting in front of him, but these Yankees are scoring at a higher clip than last year’s Yankees, so he should have enough RBI opportunities.
Judge is a runaway favorite for AL MVP. Will over or under 0.5 ballots have someone other than Judge as the AL winner?
Castillo: Under. And that doesn’t mean there won’t be worthy players in the AL. Bobby Witt Jr., Cal Raleigh and Alex Bregman rank in the top 10 in WAR across the majors. Most years, they’d be among several legitimate early MVP contenders. But Judge has just been that good. He’s levels above his peers. It’s his award to lose.
Doolittle: Under. But if I’m picking a team from scratch, I’m still taking Bobby Witt Jr. and you can’t talk me out of it. Still, if Judge doesn’t get hurt, he’ll be a unanimous pick.
Passan: Under. If Judge stays healthy, he will be a unanimous MVP. He’s that much better than everyone else in the AL — which is saying something considering Witt is in the league, too.
Schoenfield: Under. Even when Shohei Ohtani had an amazing two-way season in 2022, Judge still received 28 of 30 first-place votes. And Ohtani is in the NL now.
The right-hander allowed six runs in 2⅓ innings Sunday against the Washington Nationals, a start that ended when seven consecutive batters reached safely.
Nola struck out four in his first major league outing since May 14.
The former All-Star was one of the majors’ most durable pitchers entering the season, making at least 32 starts and throwing at least 180⅔ innings in each of the last six full seasons. But a sprained right ankle and fractured rib cost him three months this season.
His return became even more significant Saturday when Philadelphia placed ace Zack Wheeler on the injured list with a blood clot in his right arm. Nola already was scheduled to start after making three minor league rehabilitation appearances, though the Phillies scrapped their plans to use a six-man rotation.
Nola gave up Luis Garcia Jr.’s leadoff single in the first inning, then appeared to settle in. He retired the next seven batters as Philadelphia built a 6-0 lead.
The Nationals stitched together three consecutive singles in the third, the last by CJ Abrams to score a run. That led to a mound visit from pitching coach Caleb Cotham, but Nola then walked Paul DeJong before giving up Daylen Lile‘s two-run single and Dylan Crews‘ two-run double. Jose Tena followed with a tying double to end Nola’s day.
Nola allowed seven hits while throwing 53 pitches. His ERA rose to 6.92.
In addition to Nola taking Wheeler’s roster spot, the Phillies activated third baseman Alec Bohm from the injured list and optioned infielder Otto Kemp to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. To make room on the 40-man roster for Nola, Philadelphia released outfielder Cal Stevenson.
CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Reds outfielder Jake Fraley was designated for assignment on Sunday, with catcher Tyler Stephenson‘s thumb injury and a short bench contributing to the decision.
The Reds also recalled right-hander Connor Phillips and outfielder Will Benson from Triple-A Louisville and optioned left-hander Joe La Sorsa to Triple-A.
“We came to the idea of kind of giving Jake a chance to play where maybe he thinks he deserves to play, which I understand, is maybe better than him sitting the bench here,” Reds manager Terry Francona said. “Stephenson is banged up. We were a little concerned about playing short, maybe a two-man bench.”
Fraley, 30, is in his fifth major-league season, his fourth with Cincinnati. He is batting .232 with six home runs and 23 RBI in 67 games.
He hyperextended his knee after making an error in left field to allow a run to score in the 10th inning of a 6-5, 11-inning loss to the first-place Brewers on Saturday. Francona said neither the miscue nor the injury factored into the DFA move.
Stephenson reaggravated an injury to his left thumb during the Pittsburgh series and is day to day. Jose Trevino, who was behind the plate Saturday night, got the start for Sunday’s day game.
Francona said the decision on Fraley, a popular player among fans and in the clubhouse, wasn’t easy.
“Not that I needed an excuse to lose sleep last night, but you do, because you’re thinking about it,” Francona said. “You’re making decisions that alter their life. The day when I stop thinking about it, I will re-retire.”
Cincinnati, the only team this season that hasn’t been swept in a series, has dropped the first two games of the three-game set against the Brewers, who have won 14 straight games.
BOSTON — Red Sox infielder Marcelo Mayer says he will have season-ending surgery on his right wrist.
The 22-year-old Mayer injured the wrist in late July. He got an injection to try to come back but decided to have surgery. He said he has a tear that hadn’t improved with the anti-inflammatory injection.
“I knew definitely that it was going to be on the table,” he said Sunday, sitting in the Red Sox dugout at Fenway Park before they faced the Miami Marlins in the series finale.
“As an athlete and somebody that loves this game so much, all I want to do is play and be out there every single day, especially when you’re in the big leagues and the playoffs are so important,” he said. “The way that my wrist is right now, there’s just no way to come back and play. It made the decision pretty easy to have the surgery.”
Drafted fourth overall in 2021, Mayer was called up in late May. A natural shortstop, he played mostly third base, batting .228 with four homers and 10 RBIs in 44 games.
“The shot wasn’t working. It’s a three-month recovery. He should be fine if everything goes well for spring training,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “He’s a big part of the future of this organization. Just get him right, get him ready and see what happens in the future.”
Cora said he knew things weren’t going well after Mayer played catch on Thursday’s day off.
“He didn’t sound too positive about it. ‘My swing is not right,'” Cora said Mayer told him.
Mayer said he “gave it my all” but knew that surgery was the best option.
“Obviously with options given, I could have had surgery when I first injured it or get the shot,” he said. “I tried everything I could with the slight chance to come back and play.”
He also missed the final two months in the minors last season with a shoulder injury and didn’t play after July 31.