We might as well crown him at this point. Aaron Judge has taken his herculean game to an even higher level for the New York Yankees. 2.5 months into the 2025 MLB season, and he is your runaway favorite to win AL MVP. That would be his third such honor in his already-illustrious pro career. The 33-year-old outfielder could be on the precipice of his greatest season to date. So, how good are we talking?
Through 66 games, he leads baseball in a slew of very important offensive metrics. From a 5.6 WAR, to 64 runs scored to 98 hits, to 59 runs batted in, he does it all. Even more impressive, his slash line of .394/.490/.779/1.1269 leads all of baseball. Hitting nearly .400 is absurd, but so is getting on base nearly half the time. His on-base percentage is a great illustration of how wide the gap really is in MLB.
Through Wednesday, June 11 and heading into Thursday, June 12, here are the 10 best in baseball.
- New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge .490
- Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith: .427
- Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman: .417
- Boston Red Sox designated hitter Rafael Devers: .405
- Tampa Bay Rays first baseman Jonathan Aranda: .403
- Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson: .402
- New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso: .399
- Seattle Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford: .396
- Atlanta Braves designated hitter Marcell Ozuna: .395
- Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez: .391
Judge's .490 clip is .063 better than the second-best in baseball, which belongs to Will Smith of the Los Angeles Dodgers at .427. Even more staggering, Judge's .490 mark is nearly .100 better than the next best in the American League. Boston Red Sox slugger Rafael Devers is .085 back of him with a strong .405. Given how slow of a start it was for him to start this year, his .405 caught me off guard.
Beyond just what Judge is doing, is there anything else to derive from the 10 best OBPs?
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Aaron Judge's .490 OBP towers over even the next best in all of baseball
Of this top ten list, players like Judge, Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman and Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez feel like they are knocking on the door of Cooperstown already. Others, including Smith, Devers, New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso and Atlanta Braves designated hitter Marcell Ozuna, have been mainstays and MLB stars for a while now.
As for the other three inside the top 10, maybe we should be paying more attention to guys like Jonathan Aranda, Jacob Wilson and J.P. Crawford. Aranda looks like he is the next underrated star of the Tampa Bay Rays. If Wilson sounds familiar, that is because his dad is defensive wizard Jack Wilson. The Athletics have a good one. As for Crawford, he's doing his best to help the Seattle Mariners offense, though his efforts might be futile.
Overall, OBP is one of the few stats in baseball that both matter and resonate with me. Perhaps it was growing up in the era of Moneyball? Having read the book and watched the movie, I know how important that undervalued statistic is to a team's offensive success. To me, it just shows that a player is seeing the ball particularly well in a year, regardless of whether he was ever meant to hit for power.
Getting from home to first is not an easy feat, and these 10 players are doing the best job of that.