New York Yankees star Aaron Judge has etched his name in franchise history with a dominant performance at the plate through the first 40 games of the 2025 season.
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With a .409 batting average, Judge joins Yankees greats with the highest batting average in the team’s first 40 games. Paul O’Neill hit .465 in 1994, Mickey Mantle hit .430 in 1956, and Lou Gehrig had a .397 clip in 1927.
Highest batting average in team’s first 40 games, Yankees history (qualified based on current rules):
1994 Paul O’Neill: .465
1956 Mickey Mantle: .430
2025 Aaron Judge: .409
1927 Lou Gehrig: .397 https://t.co/gFNWK1d9A4— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) May 12, 2025
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Judge has a .494 on-base percentage, a .779 slugging percentage, and an OPS of 1.274 across 154 at-bats. The reigning American League Most Valuable Player has 14 home runs, 39 runs batted in, and three stolen bases.
Defensively, he ranks in the 78th percentile in Outs Above Average, according to Baseball Savant. Judge has accrued a 3.4 bWAR.
In Sunday’s 12-2 win over the Athletics, Judge went 4-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.
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Judge earned his 14th homer of the year over the weekend. The Fresno State product now has 41 career multi-homer games, making it the fourth most in Yankees history.
Judge played in Sacramento for the first time since he was in college.
“It just felt like being home,” Judge said to ESPN. “Any time we play the A’s, that’s always something that’s familiar to me and close to home to me. It was special.”
There’s not much the 33-year-old can’t do as Judge is first in batting average by 60 points (Paul Goldschmidt trails at .349), in OBP by 60 (Pete Alonso is second at .434), slugging by 138 (Shohei Ohtani is next closest at .641), and OPS by 222 (Ohtani at 1.051).
Despite leading the league in several offensive categories, manager Aaron Boone and Judge both believe the Yankees are far from where they want to be, almost two months into the 2025 season.
“Still not where we want to be,” Judge said after Sunday’s game. “But we’re improving. I think that’s the beauty of this game: there’s always room for improvement. There’s always areas of your game that you can try to get a little bit better at. That’s just a constant chase in the game that we play.”
The Yankees are first in the American League East with a 23-17 record and begin their series with the Seattle Mariners, who are atop the AL West, Monday night.
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