Aaron Judge's Best Moments From His Rookie of the Year-Winning Season

Look upon his works, ye mighty, and despair.

Aaron Judge, the beefy man-tree who plays rightfield for the Yankees, is your American League Rookie of the Year for 2017. If this is a surprise to you, it's probably because you went into a coma in late March and didn't come out of it until just now. Judge wasn't just the best freshman in this year's AL crop; he was arguably the league's best player overall (a debate that will be settled on Thursday when the BBWAA announces its AL MVP from a group of Judge, Jose Altuve and Jose Ramirez).

It was a season beyond belief for Judge, who cranked 52 home runs to go with an absurd .284/.422/.627 line, including an AL-high 127 walks (and an MLB-high 208 strikeouts), and was an integral part of a Yankees team that was supposed to be amid a rebuilding phase but instead won 91 games and came within a game of winning the pennant against the eventual World Series champion Astros. It's nice when things finally go New York's way.

There will likely be far more to come from Judge as his career continues, but let's take this moment to look back on the best moments from the giant metallic demi-god who came down from Mount Olympus and launched baseballs all over these United States (and Toronto). And by "best moments," I mean all the jaw-dropping bombs he blasted. This post is best read while listening to something loud and bombastic—maybe "Immigrant Song," or "The 1812 Overture." Enjoy!

Judge goes very deep in Seattle:

Judge crushes a third-deck homer against the Mets:

Judge goes 495 feet against the Orioles:

Judge's four 500-foot Home Run Derby homers:

Judge reaches the flagpoles in Yankee Stadium's leftfield with a 448-foot homer against the White Sox:

Judge makes a tumbling catch at Fenway (on his birthday, no less):

Judge breaks Mark McGwire's single-season rookie home run record with his 50th of the year:

Judge rips a line-drive homer in the AL wild-card game against the Twins:

Judge robs Francisco Lindor of a homer in ALDS Game 3 and owns Zack Hample in the process:

Judge makes a wall-crashing catch in the ALCS:

So there you have it: the year in Judge. Tune back next year for more of the same, most likely.