Yankees: Predicting statistical leaders for the 2018 season

Runs: Aaron Judge

Not only will Judge score more runs than any other Yankee but there’s a good chance he’ll lead the entire major leagues as well. During his historic rookie season Judge led the AL with 128 runs. That was 16 more than second-place finishers George Springer and Jose Altuve of the Astros.

Anybody who hits 52 home runs in a season is going to score a lot of runs but the main reason Judge led the league was probably because of his 127 walks. That also led the AL by a large margin and that’s a total he should be able to come close to again in 2018. Judge’s elite plate discipline helps him earn so many free passes but a lot of it is due to pitchers being afraid to give him anything good to hit. They’d rather just put him on base than watch him hit a ball over 500 ft.

As I said before, more times than not Judge will be the guy being driven in when he’s not driving in himself with home runs. This year he is expected to spend most of his time hitting in the two hole and possibly even leading off. With Stanton, Sanchez and the rest of the bunch following him in this stacked Yankee lineup, Judge is going to have a ton of opportunities to score some runs. That will probably lead to him spending more time jogging home than he will be running. Although his underrated baserunning skills with his ability to take the extra base could factor into his season total.

Another 120 to 130 run season is certainly well within reach for last year’s Rookie of the Year.