Will Aaron Judge Join Baseball’s Other 350 Club? This Bold Prediction Says Yes

Aaron Judge doesn’t need help making history these days. The New York Yankees captain seems to collect new records every time he dons the pinstripes these days. Still, CBS Sports’ Mike Axisa just put another record on Judge’s radar. In his second-half predictions column, Axisa said he believes Judge will reach base 350 times this season.

 That’s once-a-generation stuff.

To put it in perspective, only six players in MLB history have ever reached base 350 times in a season. Judge would join Babe Ruth, who reached 379 times in 1923, Barry Bonds 376 in 2004, Billy Hamilton 362 in 1894, Ted Williams 358 in 1949 and Barry Bonds in 2002 reached 356 times. 

Judge went into the All-Star break leading all of baseball in batting average (.358), on-base percentage (.471), slugging (.770), and OPS (1.241). He’s leading the pack by comfortable margins in everything. He had reached base safely 198 times, putting him 28 ahead of the next-closest player, Rafael Devers.

Right now, Judge is on pace to reach base 334 times. Axisa’s prediction, however, is based on teams getting tired of letting Judge beat them. He will pick up the pace when they just start walking him instead of pretending they can pitch to him. 

Judge already leads MLB with 24 intentional walks, the most in a season since Mike Trout was handed 25 in 2018. That number will climb as the postseason push intensifies and managers decide it’s just not worth letting Judge swing.

If those walks pile up, and if Judge keeps doing what he’s been doing, he could very well join Ruth, Bonds, and Williams in one of baseball’s most exclusive statistical clubs.

It’s a bold call. But Judge has never been a regular player. It’s a pretty safe prediction that at the end of the year, we’ll be talking about one of the greatest offensive seasons of all time.