The impossibly great Shohei Ohtani seemed to have a lock on the title of World’s Best Baseball Player. Certainly, no one was going to surpass Ohtani in his prime. That’s what we thought, anyway.
But, at least for today, Aaron Judge is wearing that crown as baseball’s best. (And don’t @ me!)
Ohtani, who one-upped Babe Ruth with his unreal, two-way game, seemed unlikely to relinquish the honor and certainly not less than a month of baseball beyond his 50-50 season for the ages. But for now anyway, Judge has surpassed him and everyone else.
Heading into Friday’s matchup with the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium, Judge is tops in every stat you’ve heard of (plus a few you may not have). He’s first in batting average (.415), on-base percentage (.513), slugging percentage (.734), OPS (1.247) and WAR (2.1). He also leads in runs created (36), adjusted batting runs (25), adjusted wins (2.0) and offensive win percentage (.923), which sound very high.
