A friend shared a photo in a chat group. In the group, we were talking about baseball cards. That friend indicated that he had an Aaron Judge autograph rookie card. At the same time, another friend shared a Cody Bellinger autograph rookie card and mentioned the differences in value.
Well, I’m not going to dive deep about the value between those 2 cards. Nonetheless, an interesting thing is that Cody Bellinger and Aaron Judge are 2 rookie of the year award winners in 2017. Now, they are both playing for the Yankees. While seeing my friends chatting about Judge and Bellinger, I’m just thinking about their career trajectories.
Firstly, let’s look at their performance from 2017 to 2025. In the last 9 seasons, they each played 1100+ games. And they each had 1100+ hits. However, there's a difference in home runs and RBI. Aaron Judge smashed 364 home runs and collected 820 RBI from 2017 to 2025. During the same period, Bellinger didn’t reach 300 home runs and 700 RBI. Nonetheless, Cody Bellinger did utilize his speed with 100+ steals in the last 9 seasons. Nevertheless, looking at the batting average, on-base percentage and OPS, Judge’s numbers were more impressive. Well, Bellinger’s OPS was over .800, which was good. But Judge had an OPS over 1.000 and that was outstanding.
Looking back at the last 9 seasons, Aaron Judge’s performance certainly looked more impressive than Bellinger’s performance. Nonetheless, things were a bit different in the first 4 seasons. From 2017 to 2020, Bellinger played much more games than Judge did. Furthermore, he had 400+ hits while Judge didn’t reach 400. Meanwhile, in those 4 seasons, Bellinger smashed more home runs than Judge did. Also, Bellinger had more RBI than Judge. And Bellinger had stolen more bases. They each had a batting average over .270 and they each had an OPS over .900.
Finally, let’s look at the awards. They each won the rookie of the year award in 2017. But Judge is already a 7-time All-Star and Bellinger was selected to the All-Star game twice. Nonetheless, Bellinger won the Gold Glove award once. But Judge now has won 5 silver slugger awards and has become a 3-time MVP. Bellinger won the NL MVP award in 2019 and he’s a 2-time silver slugger award winner.
Aaron Judge made his MLB debut in August 2016. He played 26 games in 2016 but didn’t hit very well. Nonetheless, since 2017, Judge has become one of the most dangerous hitters in the majors. In particular, from 2022 to 2025, Judge’s OPS was over 1.000 each season. Bellinger was called up in April 2017. He was off to a great start in 2017. And very soon, he won the NL MVP award in 2019. From 2017 to 2020, as we can see, Bellinger’s performance might be more consistent than Judge. Nevertheless, things have become so different since 2021. Bellinger had some serious struggles, but Judge has won 3 AL MVP awards from 2021 to 2025. The 2 rookie of the year award winners in 2017 have very different career trajectories. Interestingly, since 2025, they have become teammates in the Yankees. Well, I don’t know if the value of their baseball cards will change much. Nevertheless, we can keep watching how much they will contribute to the Yankees in 2026. Will they both have an OPS of .900 or higher in the same season again?
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