Aaron Judge’s historic 300th home run was preceded by a puzzling decision

Typically, teams allow intentional walks so they don’t have to throw the ball to New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge, but the Chicago White Sox wanted to go against the tide.

While Judge may set the American League home run record for the second time in three seasons, the Yankees captain has been deliberately run into frequently over the past two weeks.

But the White Sox made a puzzling decision on Wednesday night – one that no team will ever make again.

Interim manager Grady Sizemore, in his sixth game at free base, decided to intentionally let Juan Soto – who has hit six home runs in four games – walk in front of Judge.

The logic was to create a forced play in the hopes that Judge would roll it into a double play to end the inning.

How did that turn out? Let’s just say there’s a reason the White Sox are on pace to break the record for most losses in a single season.

“I was mad about the intentional walk. That kind of fueled it. I usually take a pitch when it’s 3-0,” Judge said after the win.

It’s one thing to intentionally let Juan Soto walk in front of Aaron Judge and have it be a topic of conversation for a night or so.

But because it led to Aaron Judge’s 300th home run, people will forever talk about Grady Sizemore’s decision. It’s his sixth career game as a manager pic.twitter.com/OpzaZadI3Y

— The Talkin’ Yanks (@TalkinYanks) 15 August 2024

Even considering that Judge has had his share of double plays, he is in such top form right now that it is almost guaranteed that he will last in this situation.

Judge’s 300th career home run was a historic milestone. He reached the mark faster than any other player before him in just 955 games. Ralph Kiner came closest at 1,087 games.

Judge also needed the fewest at-bats to reach this milestone, doing so in 3,431 at-bats. The next closest players to him are Babe Ruth (3,831), Mark McGwire (3,837) and Ralph Kiner (3,883).

Judge also became only the second player to hit 300 career home runs before hitting 1,000 hits, the other being McGwire.

Next on the list is Judge with 400. He can break the record again by hitting 100 home runs in his next 457 games – or one every 4.5 games. His current rate is one home run every 3.2 games.

Soon we’ll talk about where Judge will ultimately rank in the pantheon of home run hitters as he approaches that mark, and those who will follow him.

MORE YANKEES
Yankees surprise DFA acquisition at trade deadline
Yankees could target versatile veteran as replacement for Jazz Chisholm
Yankees’ Juan Soto hits career milestone with 3-home run game