Batting Around: How many home runs will Aaron Judge hit this season? Yankees slugger on track to set record

Throughout the season, CBS Sports MLB experts will bring you a weekly Batting Around roundtable, breaking down just about anything: breaking news, historical questions, thoughts on the future of baseball, all sorts of things. Last week we debated whether any team could win 100 games?Now we’ll take a look at Aaron Judge’s home run velocity.

How many home runs will Aaron Judge hit this season?

Dan Perry: I’m inclined to be aggressive on this one, especially considering how dominant Judge has been at the plate lately. I’d say 66, which would certainly better his own 2022 AL record by a comfortable margin. It would also equal Sammy Sosa’s third-highest single-season total in 1998. For content purposes, I’d encourage Judge to put some pressure on 70 and maybe even 73, but that’s certainly a big ask. So 66 it is.

Matt Snyder: I’m confused. Part of me wants to go serious here and say something like 63, but part of me wants maximum chaos, which would mean he’d get closer to Mark McGwire’s 70 or — sigh — Barry Bonds’ 73. You know what? You want to go crazy? Let’s go crazy.

74.

RJ Anderson: I love home-run chases. Sosa-McGwire in 1998 fueled my love of baseball. In turn, I’d love to see Judge make a serious run at the single-season record. Still, the “realistic” answer here is around 63. That’s the pace he’s on (as I write this), and logic dictates that he’s probably not going to stay so hot the rest of the way. I hope he does, because I’d love to see him take down the wilderness of McGwire and Bonds.

Mike Axisa: I have no doubt in my mind that Judge will hit 63 home runs If teams make him an offer, which isn’t a certainty. As I write this on 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 clear he was being pitched to, even if it wasn’t officially an intentional walk.

The point is, Judge isn’t getting much to hit these days and he still has seven homers in the last eight games, and 16 homers in the last 31 games. Whenever he gets a chance to swing the bat, he takes full advantage of it. I’m not going to be as bold as Matt, but I think Judge will break his own AL single-season record. I’d say he’ll finish with 64 home runs and hit record-breaking No. 63 on the second-to-last day of the season.