Aaron Judge comes into this season fresh off his 2024 American League MVP campaign, which helped lead the New York Yankees to the American League Pennant and a berth in the World Series. The major focus for Judge and the Yankees in 2025 will be finishing the job and securing a World Championship. He and the Yankees lost the World Series in five games to the Dodgers and are among the favorites to not only return but win the World Series in 2025.
More may fall on Judge’s shoulders offensively this season with the departure of Juan Soto to the New York Mets. With all that being said Judge will no doubt again be a lynchpin with which to build your 2025 MLB fantasy teams. He currently stands as the third overall ranked player and the number one outfielder according to Fantasy Pros pre-season rankings.
Aaron Judge 2024 Production
Aaron Judge’s 2024 MVP season was among the best in history. Judge finished ranked second overall in fantasy scoring and the overall OF1. His 1889 fantasy points were second only to Shohei Ohtani and he produced a stellar .322-58-144 stat line. Among eligible players, Judge led all fantasy players in home runs, runs batted in, ops, and slugging percentage. The accolades were endless for Aaron Judge in 2024. He entered the 2024 fantasy rankings as the overall eighth-ranked player and he more than returned his value based on his ADP.
Aaron Judge 2025 Fantasy Outlook
Aaron Judge’s current 2025 pre-season ADP is at three overall and the current OF1. He is projected to hit .284 with 48 HR and 114 RBI. With your first pick really in any fantasy draft, we want safe players with a high floor and Judge gives us that. Judge has played in at least 148 games in three of the last four seasons. During those four seasons, he averaged 49 home runs, 112 runs batted in, and a .296 batting average. Keep in mind those numbers would be even better if not for the lingering toe injury that plagued in him 2023.
Those starting with the third overall pick in this year’s MLB redraft leagues can start with Judge and then will come back around with picks 22 and 27. With that start, at 22 you are looking at possibly Ronald Acuna Jr. or Zach Wheeler (SP3), and at 27, you can get a Matt Olson (1B4) or Rafael Devers (3B2). That start will give you three top-30 players to anchor your fantasy team.
Final Thoughts
As we stated above, Aaron Judge is forecasted again to be one of the top point-getters in fantasy baseball this season. We may however see his home run total decrease some. This could be the result of statistical regression or the lack of protection that he was afforded with Juan Soto in the lineup. With Soto’s departure, Judge will no doubt see fewer fastballs and less quality pitches per at bat.
There are some factors to consider when selecting Judge, the first being the talk of Judge playing right field this season to slot Jason Dominguez in left and Cody Bellinger in center. Doing so, in theory, would be less taxing on Judge with right field having the smallest coverage area at Yankee Stadium.
Next, and for us, the biggest question is who will protect Judge in the lineup. The Yankees will need to make their opponents pay if and when decide to pitch around him, especially early on. Judge is projected to return to the two-hole this season, so right now our best guess is it will be Bellinger. If Chisholm leads off, Boone can follow that with Judge, Bellinger, and Stanton if he so chooses. That will afford him the right-left lineup balance he has liked in past seasons.
