Inside The Pinstripes

Yankees' Gerrit Cole Describes Aaron Judge's Season With One Word

Gerrit Cole had high praise for Aaron Judge's iconic 2024 season on Wednesday.

Grant Young

Jun 26, 2022; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees center fielder Aaron Judge (99) celebrates his game winning walk off three run home run against the Houston Astros with starting pitchers Gerrit Cole (45) and Nestor Cortes (65) during the tenth inning at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 26, 2022; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees center fielder Aaron Judge (99) celebrates his game winning walk off three run home run against the Houston Astros with starting pitchers Gerrit Cole (45) and Nestor Cortes (65) during the tenth inning at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports / Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
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New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge is putting together another historic MLB season.

After adding two more home runs to his 2024 season tally on Wednesday, Judge has hit .380/.507/.836 with 44 home runs and 105 RBIs during his last 99 games and is on pace to surpass 60 home runs in a season for the second time in his career.

If the AL MVP favorite does manage to eclipse the 60 home run mark this year (he currently has 48), he would be the third player in MLB history (Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire) to reach that number more than once in their career.

Wednesday's 6-0 win over the Cleveland Guardians was also historic for Yankees' ace Gerrit Cole, marking his 150th career MLB win.

Cole was in a visibly good mood while speaking with the media after throwing six scoreless innings yesterday. And the 2023 AL Cy Young only needed one word to describe his superstar teammate's iconic 2024 campaign.

"Just, you know, historic," Cole said when asked his thoughts on what Judge has accomplished this season, per SNY.

"I mean, it's so impressive because, when you look around the league and you see guys with high batting averages — .330, .340, .350, and guys in the past — there's a fair amount of bunt hits and infield hits," Cole continued. "This guy is sitting at .330 and I'm not quite sure he has an infield hit all year. I mean, they're all doubles and homers.

"So it's like, no one that can compare to him, certainly not walking around right now, outside of Bonds. So it's just... what a wonderful experience to have him on my team and be around him," he added.

Cole clearly has a ton of respect for Judge's extraordinary power-hitting prowess. And he's surely grateful for it, too, given how it helps both him and the Yankees win games.

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Grant Young

GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers the New York Yankees, the New York Mets, and Women’s Basketball for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco, where he also played Division 1 baseball for five years. He believes Mark Teixeira should have been a first ballot MLB Hall of Fame inductee.

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