Is Aaron Judge Comparable to Barry Bonds?

It's finally time to compare the Yankee captain to the Giants' legendary slugger.

Aug 4, 2024; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees left fielder Aaron Judge (99) singles during the third inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports / Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Yankees have a flat-out generational talent on the roster.

Aaron Judge enjoyed one of the greatest seasons in history in 2022, yet his 2024 season may be even better. As of August 6, the Yankee captain has a mind-boggling .322/.456/.701 slash line, 41 home runs, 103 RBI, a .476 wOBA and 216 wRC+, and 7.7 fWAR; he leads the major leagues in all of these categories except for batting average. In fact, his current wRC+ of 216 would be the fourth highest of any player since the turn of the millennium, behind only Barry Bonds' 2001, 2002, and 2004 seasons.

Which finally begs the question: is Judge in the same conversation as the all-time home run king?

“I gotta say no, just because of how I view Bonds and how great he is,” Judge said to Joel Sherman of The New York Post. “He’s the best player I think I’ve ever seen. Still, in my mind, I pinch myself as the little kid who was watching him make it look easy, because I am here and it isn’t easy.”

Judge, who notably grew up as a San Francisco Giants fan (his favorite player was Rich Aurilia), saw Bonds' absurd 2001-2004 peak first-hand.

“He just made the game look so easy,” Judge said of his memories watching Bonds. “Usually there’s a base open and they walk him in a big spot, and even if there wasn’t a base open, he’d get walked. Then maybe there would be one time a game they would pitch to him, and it would be off the plate, off the plate, up and in. And then they would leave one over the plate, middle away and he would just drive the ball over the fence in left-center. He made it look easy.

"It was impressive to me as a kid because, yeah, there was all that power, but also the great eye. He knew what he wanted to do and he did it.”

https://t.co/HjdhcDaf6Q For Post+, Judge talks about being treated at the plate like Bonds, Ausmus discusses why Judge is among 3 best hitters he's ever seen, should the intentional walk rule be altered, pitchers pushing innings into the red, more.

— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) August 6, 2024

Although Judge doesn't consider himself to be at Bonds' level, Yankees bench coach Brad Ausmus, who played during the same era as Bonds, does consider the 32-year old to be in that prestigious company.

"[Aaron Boone] asked me: ‘Now that you’ve seen Judge here, what do you think of him as a hitter?’” Ausmus said. “And this is the God’s honest truth: I knew from a distance that Aaron Judge was a good hitter, and I knew he had tremendous power, obviously. But I didn’t realize he was this good of a hitter, like, he’s one of the top three best hitters I’ve ever seen, including Barry.

“No question there’s some similarities [between Judge and Bonds],” Ausmus continued. “It’s kind of been in my mind, and Boonie and I have discussed it for the last month probably — it has started to go that way — people don’t want to face him. They’re willing to risk putting a guy on base not to face him.”

Aaron Judge intentionally walked...with no one on and 2 outs. 😲

That's respect. pic.twitter.com/a3ZIYMZ2Us

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 3, 2024

In terms of raw statistics, Judge isn't quite in Bonds' tier. Although it's impossible to ignore the PED controversies surrounding the now 60-year-old outfielder, he put together four of the greatest seasons in history from 2001 to 2004; this began with a record 73 home runs in 2001, and ended with pitchers walking him a record 232 times in 2004, 120 of them intentionally. Bonds also struck out considerably less than Judge; although strikeouts are no longer considered a true detriment towards hitters, the San Francisco slugger struck out less than 50 times in 2002 and 2004. As a result of these performances, Bonds is often in argument with Babe Ruth for being the greatest baseball player of all time.

However, it's far more reasonable to say that Judge is the most dominant and feared hitter the game has seen since Bonds. His 2022 season, in which he set the American League single-season record of 62 home runs, saw Judge accumulate the highest fWAR (11.2) of any player since Bonds in 2004; in fact, Judge's 2022 season eclipses Bonds' 2003 season (10.2). Judge's 216 wRC+ this year (so far) would also surpass Bonds' 2003 campaign (212). Finally, comparisons to Bonds have become amplified since Judge was intentionally walked three times by the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday; persistent intentional walks are often referred to as "the Barry Bonds treatment", and after the Blue Jays established their refusal to pitch to Judge, he is likely to have his IBB rate increase considerably, even if it's not at Bonds' rate.

Aaron Judge isn't Barry Bonds, but he doesn't need to be; he just needs to keep being himself, which is the best anyone has been since his childhood hero.