Fansided

MLB All-Star break: 10 biggest storylines of 2017

By Joshua Sadlock

NEW YORK, NY - JULY 05: Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees in action against the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium on July 5, 2017 in the Bronx borough of New York City. The Blue Jays defeated the Yankees 7-6. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - JULY 05: Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees in action against the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium on July 5, 2017 in the Bronx borough of New York City. The Blue Jays defeated the Yankees 7-6. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NY – JULY 05: Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees in action against the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium on July 5, 2017 in the Bronx borough of New York City. The Blue Jays defeated the Yankees 7-6. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – JULY 05: Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees in action against the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium on July 5, 2017 in the Bronx borough of New York City. The Blue Jays defeated the Yankees 7-6. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /

1. Aaron Judge is laying down the law

Go ahead, make your judicial-themed puns here, lord knows everyone under the sun from ESPN to MLB has been guilty of it for the entire first half. We can live with the bad jokes and constant hype because Judge has been worth every second of his coverage so far this season. He is the biggest (in multiple ways, obviously) story of the 2017 season, and did not even have a roster spot guaranteed when the Yankees opened Spring Training.

Judge made his MLB debut for the Yankees last summer, and boy was it ugly. In 84 at-bats, he struck out 42 times and batted .179/.263/.345 with only two doubles and four home runs in 27 games. At 6-foot-7, Judge obviously has holes in his swing, but they were massive last year. A full winter of work left Judge with a much more compact swing. Combine that with his elite feel for the strike zone, and the right fielder has taken things to another level in 2017.

You could knock 50-100 points off of each of Judge’s triple-slash statistics and he would still be having a great season. He hits the All-Star Game with a .329/.448/.691 line and leads the Major Leagues in home runs and slugging and the American League in most important power categories. Judge has batted over .300 in every month of the season and has posted an OPS over 1.000 in each month.

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At the midway point of the year, Judge has already topped Joe DiMaggio’s franchise record for home runs by a rookie, with 30. He is the league’s Rookie of the Year, MVP and the primary reason the Yankees have been able to stay in the playoff race despite a mediocre pitching staff. Judge has holes in his swing (as evidenced by his 109 strikeouts in 84 games), but MLB’s pitchers have not been able to hit them often enough to make a difference.

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