New York Yankees star Aaron Judge joined the 1,000-hit club Monday night. Judge reached the milestone with a line drive single to right field off Washington Nationals lefty Jose Ferrer at Nationals Park (GameTracker). Earlier this month he became the fastest player ever to 300 homers. He is the 55th active player with 1,000 hits.
Here is Judge’s 1,000th big league hit:
Judge has 1,000 career hits and also 308 career home runs. Only Mark McGwire had more home runs at the time of his 1,000th hit. He had 311. In fact, Judge and McGwire are the only players in baseball history to reach 300 home runs before 1,000 hits.
Judge entered play Monday with a .333/.465/.736 batting line and the most home runs (51) and RBI (122) in baseball. He also leads all players with 9.4 WAR. Judge is having a historically great season, one of the best ever by a right-handed hitter, and not simply because he hits a lot of home runs.
“I got to this point trying to be a good hitter and a good teammate, so that’s what I’m going to try to do,” Judge said this past weekend (via MLB.com). “I feel like if I can do that, we can look up at the end of the year, and I think the numbers will be where they’re supposed to be.”
Judge is the 42nd player to record 1,000 hits with the Yankees. He could move into the top 30 of the franchise’s all-time hits list by the end of next season. Judge is already seventh in Yankees history in home runs.
The Yankees are in first place in the AL East with a 77-54 record. They are 1 1/2 games up on the idle Baltimore Orioles.
