After slow start, Aaron Judge leads the league in critical advanced stat

Aaron Judge now leads the MLB in one key stat with the New York Yankees surging. 

Aaron Judge is on top of the world right now. The New York Yankees are riding a four-game win streak, having advanced to 34-23 on the young MLB season. Few teams in the league are hotter — and few individual players are hotter than Judge.

The reigning AL MVP got off to a slow start early in the season, but he has since righted the ship (and then some). Judge is batting .303 with an on-base percentage of .413, placing him near the top of the league. He has 18 home runs to lead the MLB and he has 39 runs batted in for good measure.

Judge’s counting stats aren’t the only indicator of his dominance. He’s making waves in advanced statistical categories too.

Aaron Judge leads the MLB in home runs — and this key advanced stat

The perceived value of MLB players goes far beyond the basic box score stats. There are countless examples of heavy-hitters who don’t actually benefit their team. That’s not the case with Judge — he’s prolific and efficient, reaching base more frequently than most and still overwhelming pitchers with his unrivaled power.

The perfect encapsulation of Judge’s dominance is fWAR — or Wins Above Replacement. From Baseball Bible: “fWAR is calculated by taking the batting runs, baserunning runs, fielding runs, positional adjustment, league adjustment, and replacement runs divided by the Runs Per Win.”

The basic idea is simple: to calculate a player’s value compared to the average, replacement-level version of a player at his position. Judge continues to absolutely dominate every offensive category, and he’s no slouch in right field either. Naturally, he leads the MLB in fWAR.

It would be too reductive to say “Judge has the best fWAR, and therefore he is the best baseball player in the world…” but, he did win MVP last season, and there aren’t many players operating on Judge’s level right now. He’s not just the league leader in fWAR: his statistical profile across the board suggests complete, utter dominance.

The Yankees have several hurdles to overcome in the American League this season: including some very real contenders in their own division. The Tampa Bay Rays — led by Wander Franco, who has the league’s second-best fWAR — are currently five games ahead of New York in first place.

That said, it’s impossible to count out a team with New York’s star power. That starts with Judge. There’s a credible argument to be made that he is the best hitter in baseball right now, and the Yankees will look to ride his red-hot bat to regular season and postseason glory.