"I don't know what they were thinking" - Juan Soto speaks on White Sox's decision that led to Aaron Judge's 300th homer
Those facing the New York Yankees need to face the hitting prowess of captain Aaron Judge and Juan Soto. Even if a pitcher slid past his way from one, there's a good chance the other won't let him go unscathed. Something similar happened on Wednesday in the eighth inning against the Chicago White Sox.
Soto is having his way at the plate of late, bashing another homer – his sixth in the last four games – in the first inning at Guaranteed Rate Field against Davis Martin. That left the White Sox fearful, as during the eighth inning, they intentionally walked him with Judge hitting behind. The result: Judge's historic 300th home run.
After the game, reporters asked Juan Soto if he knew the White Sox were going to intentionally walk him before pitching to Judge, who made it count. The outfielder thought the White Sox were also going to walk his teammate:
"Definitely no, but I was really thinking they're going to do back-to-back intentional walks when they walk me," Soto said. "I didn't know that they'd try to pitch him, but I don't know. It's their strategy how they were and what they were thinking."
Aaron Judge becomes quickest MLB player to reach 300 home runs
On a 3-0 pitch by Chad Kuhl, the Yankees captain crushed the ball to the left-field stands to give the Yankees a 9-2 lead while also extending his major league home run lead. Aaron Judge now has 43 on the season and 300 in his career in just 955 games, making him the quickest to reach the milestone in MLB history.
Previously, Ralph Kiner held the quickest record to reach 300 HRs, with him doing so in 1,087 games. Judge achieved it while having played 132 fewer games.
- 955 games: Aaron Judge
- 1,087 games: Ralph Kiner
- 1,093 games: Ryan Howard
- 1,096 games: Juan Gonzalez
- 1,117 games: Alex Rodriguez
- 1,119 games: Giancarlo Stanton
With him dominating at the plate this season, it seems like Judge could be a runaway for the 2024 AL MVP award, which would be the second of his career.
Apart from leading the majors in home runs, the Bronx Bombers captain also leads in RBIs (110), on-base percentage (.467), slugging percentage (.707), walks (102), and total bases (301).