ARLINGTON, Tex. — Aaron Decide is the brand new dwelling run king — at the least to some individuals.
The Yankees outfielder made historical past Tuesday, hitting his 62nd dwelling run of the season to interrupt Roger Maris’ American League and franchise report set in 1961 — and, some would say, the authentic MLB report.
He reached the landmark quantity towards Jesus Tinoco of the Texas Rangers, main off within the second-to-last common season recreation on the season.
Within the first recreation of Tuesday’s doubleheader, Decide went 1 for five because the designated hitter, singling and scoring the eighth inning. The frustrations of his homerless drought started to point out as he was caught slamming his helmet in the dugout after a fifth inning pop-out.
It’s essentially the most homers hit in a season since Barry Bonds set his PED-tainted report of 73 dwelling runs in 2001 with the Giants. Sammy Sosa, one other slugger disgraced by his attachment to steroids, hit 64 that season with the Cubs. Sosa’s career-high of 66 got here in 1998 throughout his chase with Mark McGwire, who completed with 70 dwelling runs.
Whereas many take into account Bonds’ report to be illegitimate due to his connection to steroids, Decide mentioned he still believes Bonds is the home run champ.
“The report’s the report,” Decide mentioned earlier in September. “That’s what I’m going by. I watched him as a child flip the ball into the bay with ease. That hasn’t modified.”
Decide first expressed the sentiment in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, saying, “Nobody can take that from him.”
However Decide mentioned he hasn’t been targeted on Maris’ milestone.
Every thing to find out about Aaron Decide and his chase for the house run report:
“I’m probably not chasing or taking a look at something,” Decide mentioned of his transfer up the house run leaderboard. “It’s simply occurring.”
And Decide, who grew up in California rooting for Bonds and the Giants, added he doesn’t plan on gunning for Bonds’ 73, both.
“Not likely,” Decide mentioned. “That was a reasonably unreal 12 months. That’s a tough quantity to catch.”
This 12 months, nothing appears out of attain for the 30-year-old Decide, who began the season by rejecting the Yankees’ seven-year, $213.5 million contract extension offer and selected to gamble on himself and head to free company, unwilling to barter through the season.
That’s shaping as much as be top-of-the-line bets of all-time. Decide has responded with a season for the ages, set to steer the majors in homers and RBIs.
He’s almost certain to win his first AL MVP award, regardless of Shohei Ohtani’s two-way brilliance with the Angels.
Making Decide’s achievement much more exceptional is that he acquired off to a comparatively sluggish begin, hitting only one dwelling run in his first 54 plate appearances.
His tempo via the center of the season was extraordinarily constant, with 12 homers in Might, 11 in June and 13 in July.
Now, the baseball world will wait and see what number of dwelling runs Decide finally ends up with — and the way a lot it can value the workforce that will get him within the offseason.
