Sunday afternoon marked the end of the 2025 MLB regular season, and it also featured the coronation of Yankees star Aaron Judge as the American League batting champion. The captain led all of baseball in hitting, finishing the campaign at .331/.457/.688 with 30 doubles, 53 homers, a 205 wRC+, and at least 10.1 fWAR.
Judge had a smooth road to the batting title, which isn’t terribly surprising considering how hot he was at the very start of 2025. He flirted with .400 until mid-June, as he carried a .396/.491/.776
slash line through the end of play on June 10th, 65 into the season. He cooled off some from there and then spent a week and a half on the IL battling the flexor strain in his elbow that slowed him down and forced him to DH duty for a little while.
By September though, Judge got hot again, and he hit .377/.537/.792 over the season’s final month to put the final touches on both his AL MVP case and the batting crown. It was a breeze of a win, as runners-up Bo Bichette (Blue Jays) and Tyler Wilson (Athletics) were far off Judge’s .331 mark, finishing at .311 each. Both would have led the paltry National League field though, won by the Phillies’ Trea Turner with a .304 — the lowest in the nearly 150-year history of the Senior Circuit. Only Carl Yastzemski’s .301 in the Year of the Pitcher (1968) was lower by any player.
Judge’s .331 is a much more normal-looking batting title win, even for the modern age. It’s right in line with the last two AL winners: .330 from the Rays’ Yandy Díaz in 2023 and .332 from the Royals Bobby Witt Jr. last year. Judge joins a prestigious group of Yankees to win the batting crown, as he is the first to do so since DJ LeMahieu in the COVID-shortened 2020 (.364) and the first in a full season since Bernie Williams in 1998 (.339). Other Yankees to win the batting title include Babe Ruth (1924), Lou Gehrig (1934), Joe DiMaggio (1939, 1940), Snuffy Stirnweiss (1945), Mickey Mantle (1956), Don Mattingly (1984), and Paul O’Neill (1994).
The batting title is the cherry on top of what should be an MVP season. That’s a debate for another day, though. Congratulations to Judge on his well-earned batting title! He’s the best hitter in the game.
