Throughout the season the CBS Sports MLB experts will bring you a weekly Batting Around roundtable breaking down pretty much anything. The latest news, a historical question, thoughts about the future of baseball, all sorts of stuff. Last week we debated whether any team will win 100 games. Now we're going to tackle Aaron Judge's home run pace.
How many home runs will Aaron Judge hit this season?
Dayn Perry: I'm inclined to be aggressive with this one, especially in light of how dominant Judge has looked at the plate lately. I'll say 66, which would of course best his own 2022 AL record by a comfy margin. It would also tie Sammy Sosa in 1998 for the third-highest single-season total ever. For content purposes, I'll be rooting for Judge to put some heat on 70 and maybe 73, but that's of course a big ask. So 66 it is.
Matt Snyder: I'm torn. Part of me wants to go earnest here and say something like 63, but part of me wants maximum chaos, which would mean him approaching Mark McGwire's 70 or -- gasp -- Barry Bonds' 73. You know what? You wanna get nuts? Let's get nuts.
74.
R.J. Anderson: I love home-run chases. The Sosa-McGwire one back in '98 helped foster my baseball fandom. In turn, I would enjoy watching Judge make a serious run at the single-season record as well. That said, the "realistic" answer here is around 63. It's what he's on pace for (as I type this), and logic dictates that he's probably not going to stay this hot the rest of the way. I hope he does, though, because I'd love to see him get into McGwire and Bonds' neck of the woods.
Mike Axisa: There is not a doubt in my mind Judge will hit 63 home runs if teams pitch to him, which is not a given. As I write this Wednesday, Judge has walked 33 times in his last 31 games. Only ("only") 10 of those 33 walks were intentional, but many others were unintentionally intentional. It was obvious he was being pitched around even if it wasn't an official intentional walk.
The thing is, Judge isn't getting much to hit these days and he still has seven homers in those last eight games, and 16 in those last 31 games. He makes the most of it whenever he does get the opportunity to swing the bat. I'm not going to be as bold as Matt, but I think Judge breaks his own AL single-season record. I'll say he finishes with 64 home runs and hits the record-breaking No. 63 on the second to last day of the season.
