"He already has 260?" - Yankees fans rejoice as Aaron Judge equals Derek Jeter's home run record with 469 ft moonshot against Guardians

Before Sunday, Aaron Judge had not been blasting baseballs into the seats like he normally is. He wasn't slumping per se, as his walk numbers are tops in the league and he's still playing overall pretty well, but the home run totals were a bit down than one would have expected. That all changed Sunday afternoon when he deposited a home run about 470 feet into the Cleveland stands.

Judge had previously had just two home runs in the season despite playing every single day. The slugger was trailing several players early on the home run leaderboard, but he might be slowly climbing back up after today.

It also marked his 260th career homer, tying him with Derek Jeter. The fans loved seeing this, and some of them couldn't believe he was at 260 in such a short time.

"Professional baller," one fan commented.

Others noted that Jeter wasn't known for his power, which is why Judge so easily matched and will undoubtedly surpass him quickly.

"Jeter had 0 pop," one joked.

"I wonder if he’ll surpass him!" another laughed.

Judge took the first pitch he saw deep into the night, giving the New York Yankees a 3-0 lead early on as they looked for a sweep. It's the sight Yankees fans have become rather accustomed to over the years but had been missing thus far in 2024.

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Aaron Judge has been decent so far

Despite the lack of home runs and the seemingly low batting average, Aaron Judge has been quite good this season. Perhaps it's not to the level fans reasonably expect from him, but he's been fine.

Aaron Judge hit a home run on Sunday

Even before he went nuclear on Sunday, the slugger had a 135 wRC+. That would be a career low for him, but it would be most players' highlight year. His 21.4% walk rate is also extremely high, a career-best mark for someone who's generally shown a great eye all year long.

Per Baseball Savant, he's in the 100th percentile of walk rate (i.e. no one is better). He's also 94th percentile of exit velocity, 93rd in chase rate, 80th in hard hit rate and 78th in xwOBA. Once he gets going, those numbers will be even better.