Aaron Judge hit his 350th career home run in Saturday’s 5-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs. In doing so, the New York Yankees slugger reached the milestone faster than any other player in baseball history.
The homer was No. 35 for Judge this season, and it came in the ninth inning against Cubs reliever Brad Keller. Keller tried to get a 97.7 mph fastball past Judge high in the strike zone, but it was right down the middle, and Judge didn’t miss it.
Judge reached 350 home runs in 1,088 career games; that’s 192 games sooner than Mark McGwire, who hit homer No. 350 in 1,280 games, according to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs. The five players below Judge on the list are as follows:
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Mark McGwire: 1,280 games
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Juan Gonzalez: 1,298 games
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Alex Rodriguez: 1,301 games
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Harmon Killebrew: 1,319 games
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Albert Pujols: 1,320 games
Judge is the fourth player to reach 350 home runs while wearing the Yankees pinstripes, joining Babe Ruth, Alex Rodriguez and current teammate Giancarlo Stanton.
While Judge will have at least 35 homers before the All-Star break, the fourth-highest total in MLB history, he still trails Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh, who has 38 home runs after hitting two in Friday’s 12-3 win over the Detroit Tigers.
Presuming that both players maintain their home run production through the second half of the season, the American League MVP race could be a tight one. Raleigh currently has the home run lead and leads MLB with 82 RBI, but Judge is batting .358 with a 1.204 OPS.
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Judge is currently on pace for 60 home runs, which would be the second time he has hit that mark during his career and the fourth time he hit 50 or more homers in a season. Last year, he hit 58 home runs while winning his second AL MVP.
