Yankees Didi Gregorius and Aaron Judge make history

Didi Gregorius and Aaron Judge put their names in the record books with productive games for the Yankees on Wednesday afternoon.

With a three-run shot in the bottom of the fourth inning on Wednesday afternoon against the Minnesota Twins, Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius established a new single-season record for home runs by a Yankees shortstop, with 25. The previous record was 24, by Derek Jeter in 1999. In the same game, Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer to put him at 100 RBI, thus becoming only the third rookie in MLB history to have 100 runs, 100 RBI, and 100 walks in a season.

Gregorius didn’t always have the kind of power he’s shown the last two years. He hit a combined 13 home runs in 703 plate appearances across two seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2013 and 2014. The Yankees acquired him as part of a three-team trade before the 2015 season and he continued to hit like he had in Arizona, particularly in the first half of the 2015 season.

In his first season in pinstripes, Gregorius hit just .238/.293/.326 in the first half. He looked like a slick-fielding, light-hitting shortstop that populated MLB rosters in the 1960s and 1970s. Something flipped in the second half, though, as Gregorius hit .294/.345/.417. Perhaps not coincidentally, the 2015 All-Star break was when baseballs across baseball started flying out of the park at a much higher rate than they had before.

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Last year, Gregorius upped his power game by more than doubling his previous career high in homers. He hit 20 long balls and slugged .447. He’s been even better this year, with 25 homers and a .496 slugging percentage. Only Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez have more homers on the Yankees than Gregorius.

In the same game Gregorius passed Jeter to become the Yankees’ single-season home run leader at shortstop, Aaron Judge joined elite company as only the third rookie in MLB history to have 100 runs, 100 RBI, and 100 walks in a season. The previous two were Ted Williams and Al Rosen.

Williams burst upon the baseball scene with a terrific rookie year in 1939. He scored 131 runs, walked 107 times, and led the AL with 145 RBI. That production was good enough for fourth place in AL MVP voting. According to FanGraphs Wins Above Replacement, Williams’ 1939 season is the ninth-best every by a rookie.

After reaching the 100 mark in runs, RBI, and walks in his rookie year, Williams would go on to achieve that trifecta seven more times in his career. Three times he led the league in all three categories. He was at his absolute best in these categories in 1949 when he had a league-leading 150 runs, 159 RBI, and 162 walks. He won the AL MVP Award that year, but his contentious relationship with the media likely contributed to him getting only 13 of the 24 first place votes from the writers.

Al Rosen’s rookie year with Cleveland came in 1950 and is the 10^th best rookie season ever, according to FanGraphs WAR (Judge is currently 11^th). Along with being only the second rookie in history to have 100 runs, 100 RBI, and 100 walks in a season, he led the league in homers, with 37. Unlike Williams, this would be the only season Rosen topped the century mark in runs, RBI, and walks. He had two other seasons in which he was able to pass 100 runs and RBI, but failed to get the 100 walks.

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The next rookie record Judge is gunning for is the single-season record for home runs, held by Mark McGwire. Big Mac hit 49 in his debut season with the Oakland A’s in 1987. Judge now has 45 and the Yankees will have 10 games left after today’s game against the Twins is over. After struggling following the All-Star Game, Judge has heated up in September. Before today’s game, he was hitting .259/.408/.672 for the month. He has six home runs in his last 10 games. If he keeps hitting like he has recently, the rookie home run record will be his.