I'm sorry everyone, I was wrong. Last week in this space, I placed Aaron Judge at No. 2 on the list, ending the analysis with the following: "If he is promoted soon, and given regular at-bats in the Bronx, he could hit 8-10 more the rest of the way." What I probably should have said was Judge is an absolute monster who feasts on baseballs and could hit 8-10 home runs in the month of August alone. The Yankees promoted the powerful prospect on Saturday and immediately were rewarded for that decision.
First, let's talk about the visual. Judge is 6-foot-7 and nearly 300 pounds. He is a left tackle playing right field with agility he should not have while being that big. He also clears the crouching catcher by about four feet, which is an uncommon sight for most pitchers.
Judge does this while wearing number 99. It takes a certain level of confidence to walk up to the plate with such an unorthodox number for the sport. Remember, Manny Ramirez wore 99 for a brief period, and we know he had the confidence level of a raccoon raiding your trash at night -- which is up there.
Making his debut Saturday afternoon, Judge batted eighth behind Tyler Austin, who was also making his big league debut. Austin hit a 331-foot home run seconds before Judge was announced. On a 1-2 pitch from Matt Andriese, Judge smashed a ball 109 miles per hour in the opposite direction, landing 446 feet away to straight away center field.
Leading off the third inning on Sunday, Judge went to the opposite field at 102 mph for a 362-foot home run to right field. This time, he waited until the count was full. At his current pace of a home run per game, Judge should hit 45 more the rest of the way. It seems feasible.
Who is the next player to set unreasonable expectations? Let's find out: