MLB insider says Aaron Judge's "numbers don't make sense" as Juan Soto lags in OPS even with 40-homer season
Shohei Ohtani might have stolen the show with his historic offensive season as a designated hitter, but Aaron Judge and Yankees teammate Juan Soto are also having incredible seasons. For top MLB insider Jon Morosi, Judge's stats look unbelievable as he is far ahead of Soto despite the Dominican's career-high 40-homer season.
Speaking on Sportsnet's "Blair & Barker" podcast on Friday, Morosi heaped praise on the Yankees who defeated the Orioles en route to clinching the AL East. Judge received the biggest praise from Morosi, followed by Soto:
"Aaron Boone was saying this to us in our meeting yesterday before the game [against Orioles]: 'You almost couldn't imagine a better year than what Juan Soto is having right now. A 40-homer season at Yankee Stadium—it's just unbelievable.'
"Then he looks at his numbers and sees, 'Oh yeah, you can't imagine anybody being better than Soto,' and Judge has him by like 150 points in OPS. The numbers just don't even make sense." [19:09]
Aaron Judge currently has a 1.159 OPS while Juan Soto's is .989. For context, the OPS difference between Soto and Fransisco Lindor (.833 OPS), who is challenging Shohei Ohtani (1.040 OPS) for NL MVP, is .156 while the difference between Judge and Soto is .171.
Morosi further explained that the dynamic duo of Judge and Soto are comparable to Yankee legends:
"I heard Michael Kay mention the stat a couple of days ago that Aaron Judge has now surpassed Joe DiMaggio among Yankee hitters for the most extra-base hits in a single season. These are the greats of the greats, and right now, Judge, especially Judge, but Judge and Soto are in the realm of all-time Yankee legends.
"In terms of teammates to have 40-plus homer seasons the same year, it's [Babe] Ruth and [Lou] Gehrig, [Mickey] Mantle and [Roger] Maris, and these two." [19:33]
Morosi also agreed with podcast co-host Kevin Barker's statement that Aaron Judge is the 'right-handed Barry Bonds.' For Morosi, watching Aaron Judge and Juan Soto is like watching the aforementioned legendary Yankees duos in 'high definition.'
Insider explains why he feels Aaron Judge and the Yankees will win the World Series
The Yankees, along with the Dodgers and Phillies, are among the superteams in the MLB. If all goes well, there is a chance that baseball fans could see an Aaron Judge vs. Shohei Ohtani or Judge vs. Bryce Harper matchup in the World Series.
For MLB insider Jon Morosi, the Yankees winning the World Series is a surety if players batting behind Judge and Soto perform well in the postseason:
"If [Giancarlo] Stanton is going to hit like that [Game 3 against Orioles 1 HR, 4 RBI] more often than not in October, they probably will win the World Series because Judge and Soto are going to be on base a ton. If just probably one of the two or three guys that hit right after Judge -and that's probably Austin Wells, Stanton, or Rizzo, who bats deeper now in the lineup, some combination of those guys.
"Jazz Chisholm, I'll put in that conversation. If one of those three guys gets going, among Chisholm, Wells, and Stanton has a hot October, this team will be almost impossible to deal with." [18:26]
The Yankees lost the first two games of a three-game series to the Pirates. The Bronx Bombers will be looking to end the regular season on a high with a big win in Game 3 before going into the postseason.