On Tuesday, New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge homered in his first at-bat of the game against the Seattle Mariners. It was Judge's 17th homer of the season, and his 100th career. Because this is Aaron Judge -- the player responsible for the most home runs in a rookie season, with 52 -- you knew he had to be closing in on a round number. Sure enough, Tuesday's blast was the 100th of his career, making him one of the quickest ever to that mark.
Take a look the homer first:
Now, as for the history, Judge's home run came in his 371st career game. As Sarah Langs of ESPN pointed out, Judge was slower only than Ryan Howard (325) and teammate Gary Sanchez (333) in getting to the century mark:
While Sanchez may have pulled ahead of Judge in that department, it's worth noting Judge has Sanchez -- and … well, everyone else in franchise history -- in a different category. Judge is the only Yankees player to ever accumulate at least 100 homers and 260 walks in his first four MLB seasons:
That statistic speaks to Judge's raw strength and his keen batting eye. Those are his top attributes, and they're what make him one of the top hitters in baseball. They're also why he's likely to continue to find himself in impressive company as the years roll by and the statistics pile up.