When the New York Yankees traded for 2017 NL MVP Giancarlo Stanton this past offseason, he joined forces with AL MVP runner up and AL Rookie of the Year, Aaron Judge. With apologies to other great Bronx Bombers and other bash brothers, this addition quite possibly created the most powerful pair in the history of the MLB.
Stanton and Judge are both power forwards playing the game of baseball. Stanton standing at 6-6 245lbs and his younger twin in Judge standing at 6-7 282, the tallest MLB hitter ever, combine for some of the most absolute bombs you’ll ever witness. New York’s new twin towers have high expectations upon them for contention for the American League MVP and home run king.
Coming with Stanton’s larger than life figure is his larger than life record contract. In 2015, Stanton signed the time largest contract in the history of professional sports, giving claim to the two largest contracted players to ever play baseball. No. 2 being that of Alex Rodriguez $275 million dollar price tag from 2008-2017. Thankfully Judge is still in his rookie contract of $622K per year, because he could very well be the next highest contracted MLB player.
In 2019 alone, Stanton is due to make $25 million, which would jeopardize the team’s stated intent to have a 2018 payroll that is under the new luxury tax threshold of $197 million. As well as keeping the duo together for more than just the 2018 season.
We will be watching intently, at the next great Yankee duo trying to break Babe Ruth’s one time record of 60 home runs in a season. If the pair can stay healthy for a full year, it’s quite possible to see the pair hit north of 50 homeruns and topping out in the 60s and who knows - 70 isn’t out of the picture.
In 2017, the duo of Stanton and Judge combined for 111 homeruns (Stanton 59 & Judge 52). The only other duo to combine for more home runs in a single season? The 1961 Bronx Bombers of Mickey Mantle (54) and Roger Maris (61), who famously hit homerun number 61 in game 162.
Team
|
Team Total
|
Player
|
Total
|
115
|
64
| ||
54
| |||
110
|
73
| ||
37
| |||
107
|
60
| ||
47
| |||
101
|
70
| ||
31
| |||
100
|
57
| ||
43
|
*notes alleged or confirmed steroid usage.
Not only do the new Bronx Bombers hit a lot of homers, they hit them harder and farther than anyone in the MLB. Here is a look at the highest exit velocity in 2017. Judge and Stanton combine for 19 of the first 24 hardest hit pitches with the furthest being a 495ft bomb from Judge.
Adding into the mix of power that should result in even more dingers, is 3rd year Yankee catcher Gary Sanchez. After appearing in 53 games in 2016 and hitting 20 homeruns, expectations were high for Sanchez to perform in his first full season. Sanchez responded to his hot rookie start by hitting 33 homeruns and slugging at a .531 clip in only 123 games.
Meanwhile, the Yankees best hitter of the 2018 season has been shortstop Didi Gregorius. Gregorius has opened up the 2018 season by hitting at a .340 avg clip and crushing a league leading 10 homeruns and 30 RBI’s at the end April. Leading the Yankees to the MLB’s top scoring offense (6 RPG) homeruns, (42) and slugging (.451).
The Yankees have the power to hit the most homeruns in a season by a team if the core players remain healthy and play to their expected capabilities. The current record of 264 is held by the 1997 Seattle Mariners where 6 players hit at least 20 homeruns with another famous bash brother duo of Ken Griffey, Jr. (56) and Jay Buhner (40) combing for 96 homeruns. 9 players from the Mariners were in double digits including a young shortstop, Alex Rodriguez.
The Yankees starting lineup from 2017 combined to hit 241 homeruns last season, with 9 players hitting into double digits. With General Manager, Brian Cashman replacing DH Matt Holiday’s 19 homeruns and adding Stanton potential to hit north of 50 as the DH, you’re looking at a new season total of potentially into the 270 range. Not to mention the young core of Gregorius, Sanchez, Judge, and Greg Bird developing into their primes, there’s going to be a lot of dingers hit in the Bronx.
With all this great power, comes great swing and misses. Over the course of Judge’s rookie year, he lead the league in strikeouts with 208, recorded a strike out in a MLB record 37 games in a row, and struck out at an alarming 38% of his at bats. Prior to Stanton arriving in the Big Apple, Stanton never recorded a 5 strikeout game, 1 week into the season he has already recorded 2 and received one hell of a bad reception from those great Yankees fans.
Chicks dig the long ball, expect Yankee games to be a hot spot for women in the stands.
