62 home runs and a new single-season American League home run record is what Aaron Judge concluded his 2022 MLB season with. While 62 is really far away from Barry Bonds’ 73 home runs, everyone started wondering if Judge is the new home run king, especially after he’s already hit 220 home runs in his seven-season career till now.
And renowned media personality Ben Shapiro seems to be on the same page, too.
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The only reason why Barry Bonds’ home run record comes into question is because of his massive steroid scandal. Correspondingly, the same scandal put him on the negative side of the entire MLB. In a recent interview of Ben Shapiro with Crain and Company, the attorney and media personality answers the question with his opinion on who he thinks is the next home run king.
Who is the home run king? Aaron Judge or Barry Bonds?
In the interview, Shapiro backs up his opinion on the home run king by using statistical numbers from Barry Bonds’ prime year of 73 home runs. With that, he concludes to say that Judge is the new home-run king. And if Bonds hadn’t taken steroids, his 73 homers would actually not go beyond 53.
He replied to the question by saying, “He’s [Aaron Judge] the home run king. They’ve done some pretty good studies on how much distance it adds to be on roids the way that the Bonds were. And then they actually measured that against the length of his home runs the season that he hit 73 and what they found is that if you take away the home runs that were hit you know kind of in that gap.”
Shapiro added, “If hitting a home run on steroids means that you’re adding 15 feet to the ball, how many were hit just 15 feet beyond the wall? And what they found is that he actually hit about 53 home runs that year, so I mean still a huge year, but not 73.”
Will the Judge be the next Yankees captain?
Don Mattingly retired in 1995. Derek Jeter became the Yankees captain in 2003. Jeter retired in 2014. Aaron Judge becomes captain in 2023. This sequence only sounds fitting. And New Yorkers feel the same way too.
However, there is no official confirmation yet, but the Yankees fans believe that Judge will be the perfect choice to be the next Pinstripes’ captain.
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"You find out that answer by talking to his teammates. I've watched from afar and he's a very impressive individual"
– Derek Jeter when asked his thoughts on Aaron Judge potentially becoming the next Yankees captain pic.twitter.com/uZpkT1dIIW
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) September 10, 2022
Notably, after a rewarding 2022 and a whopping $360 million contract for nine more years, the next Yankees decision that will garner long fan appreciation would be handing the captaincy label to Aaron Judge.
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Watch This Story: Top-5 Most Electrifying Home Runs By New York Yankees Star Aaron Judge
Will the Pinstripes front office give into this captaincy demand? What do you think? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.