Yankees' Aaron Boone squashes talk about start of 2025 being Aaron Judge's best run

DENVER — There is little doubt that Aaron Judge is having a phenomenal start to the 2025 campaign. However, manager Aaron Boone isn't ready to call it the best stretch of Judge's illustrious career.

In his 10th MLB season, Judge has kicked off 2025 by slashing .396/.486/.743 and an OPS+ of 245. All of those numbers lead all MLB batters, but Boone believes that the two-time American League Most Valuable Player has previously pieced together just as impressive stretches during other parts of the season.

"I watched him win the MVP in '22 and hit 62 homers," Boone said before the Yankees opened a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies. 

Judge batted .322 and launched 59 home runs and had another MVP season. Boone added Judge "won another MVP after a tough first month, so I've seen some pretty good, sustained runs by him."

While Judge has been known for his power in recent seasons, he has drawn extra attention to start 2025 as he flirts with hitting .400. With those 16 homers and a batting average of .396, Judge is already part of an elite club, becoming just one of seven players to put together those types of numbers during the first 49 games of the season.

Among the others who have done that is Judge's current teammate Cody Bellinger, who had 17 home runs and a .404 batting average in 2019 on his way to winning National League MVP honors with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Judge is also one of just three Yankees to reach base multiple times in 37 of the team's first 49 games, joining Babe Ruth (who did it five times) and Lou Gehrig (who did it twice).

However, while Judge is making history once again this season, Boone believes it is important to step back and look at what the 33-year-old slugger has done over the course of his career and take that view in context.

"I think he's had stretches every bit this good over the last several years," Boone said. "It's just that he hasn't had a down stretch this year.

"Obviously he's playing at another level than anyone else, but I feel like I've seen it before."