The American League’s home run leader is a rookie. Same in the National League.
The AL batting race? A rookie is in front there, too.
Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger and Ben Gamel have made quite an impression already during the first half of this 2017 season, with Judge and Bellinger slugging their way to stardom for the Yankees and Dodgers. Gamel, who played briefly for the Yankees last year before being traded, has settled in nicely in Seattle.
Judge and Bellinger are the two home run leaders, and Judge is also second in the AL batting race – nine points behind Gamel. If they keep this up, it should be another banner year for baseball’s top rookies.
Entering Sunday, Judge and Bellinger had already combined for 7.0 wins above replacement, according to Baseball-Reference.com. And Bellinger wasn’t even the leader in WAR among NL rookies – he was behind Colorado left-hander Kyle Freeland.