Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh are in the midst of truly historic seasons.
In Judge’s case, the Yankees slugger is hitting a mindboggling .371/.468/.739 with 27 home runs, while accumulating 5.7 Wins Above Replacement (through Thursday), according to FanGraphs. Judge is on pace to approach a 12 WAR season, something only Babe Ruth (five times), Barry Bonds (twice), Lou Gehrig and Rogers Hornsby have done.
Raleigh, meanwhile, could have the best catching season of all time, with the Mariners backstop posting 4.4 WAR and slugging an MLB-leading 29 home runs after hitting two on Friday, while appearing in all but one of Seattle’s 74 games. Big Dumper is on pace to approach 10 fWAR and 60 home runs.
Both players will almost certainly be selected as American League All-Star starters at this year’s Midsummer Classic in Atlanta. With Judge and Raleigh embarking on historic paces, it got us thinking about some of the top offensive first halves by a position player since the inaugural All-Star Game at Chicago’s Comiskey Park in 1933.
To encapsulate each player’s offensive contributions, we looked at sOPS+, which is essentially OPS+ but looks at it in the specific context of a given environment and split. In this case, it contextualizes a player’s OPS+ in the first half of their specific season. As usual, 100 is the league average, and in this exercise, anything around 200 is truly historic.
For the sake of this exercise, we followed the current All-Star Game voting format and selected three outfielders, rather than doing left field, center field and right field. There were also no repeat players in the outfield, given that two all-time greats in the outfield accounted for five of the top 10 best first halves by sOPS+.
With this in mind, here are the best first-half performances at each position since the All-Star Game began in 1933.
A minimum of 250 plate appearances in the first half was required for a player to qualify.
Catcher: Carlton Fisk (1972 Red Sox)
71 G, 200 sOPS+ (.310/.386/.624), 15 HR
This was Fisk’s breakout season, when he posted 6.6 WAR and a .909 OPS while hitting 22 home runs as a rookie, resulting in AL Rookie of the Year honors and a fourth-place finish in AL MVP voting. It was also the first of 11 All-Star Game selections for the future Hall of Famer, and though he didn’t start the ’72 Midsummer Classic, he came in late and singled in his first plate appearance.
Honorable mention: 1970 Dick Dietz (199 sOPS+)
First base: Frank Thomas (1994 White Sox)
86 G, 238 sOPS+ (.383/.515/.795), 32 HR
Thomas’s 1994 season was tracking as one of the best offensive seasons in MLB history -- and still was in many regards. The Big Hurt’s season was cut short at 113 games due to the players’ strike, but Thomas hit a remarkable .353/.487/.729 with 38 home runs and 7.0 WAR. Those numbers were even better in the first half, with a remarkable 1.310 OPS that resulted in him batting fourth for the AL All-Star team.
Honorable mention: 1933 Jimmie Foxx (235 sOPS+)
Second base: Joe Morgan (1976 Reds)
70 G, 209 sOPS+ (.330/.463/.612), 14 HR
Morgan had an illustrious Hall of Fame career, but this ended up being his peak offensive season. In his age-32 season during The Big Red Machine’s epic run in the ’70s, Morgan set a career high with a 1.020 OPS, 187 OPS+ and 27 home runs while swiping 60 bases. There was no shortage of star power on those Reds teams, but Morgan was their best player from 1975-76, when Cincinnati won consecutive World Series titles. Morgan was also in the midst of a stretch where he started seven All-Star Games for the National League from 1972-78.
Honorable mention: 1942 Bobby Doerr (187 sOPS+)
Third base: Miguel Cabrera (2013 Tigers)
93 G, 213 sOPS+ (.365/.458/.674), 30 HR
One of the best right-handed hitters in MLB history, Cabrera’s 2013 season ended up being the best of his career, earning him him the second of two straight AL MVP awards. Appearing in 148 games, Cabrera posted career highs in WAR (8.6), OPS (1.078) and OPS+ (190). After beginning his Tigers tenure as a primary first baseman, Cabrera moved back to third base for a pair of seasons in 2012 and ’13 to accommodate Prince Fielder at first base. Sure, the defensive numbers weren’t pretty -- and he moved back to first base in 2014 -- but you can’t ignore what he did at the plate. Of his three career All-Star Game starts, only his 2013 appearance came at third base.
Honorable mention: 1966 Tony Allen (211 sOPS+)
Shortstop: Arky Vaughan (1935 Pirates)
61 G, 199 sOPS+ (.398/.502/.619), 10 HR
In a stretch of nine straight All-Star Game selections from 1934-44, Vaughan truly shone in his ’35 season, his first year starting in the Midsummer Classic. He finished his season with a career-high 9.5 WAR, 19 home runs and a 1.098 OPS, blowing away his career norms in what would be an eventual Hall Of Fame career. Vaughan was utterly ridiculous in the first half, getting on base over 50 percent of the time while drawing 44 walks compared to just six strikeouts.
Honorable mention: 1969 Rico Petrocelli (198 sOPS+)
Outfield: Barry Bonds (2004 Giants)
77 G, 274 sOPS+ (.365/.628/.794), 23 HR
This was the final year of a truly outrageous four-year stretch where Bonds hit .349/.559/.809 with 209 home runs and 47.3 WAR and started each All-Star Game for the National League. Of those four seasons, three ranked in the top 10 by sOPS+ in the first half. Bonds’ 2004 season is still hard to believe: He drew 232 walks -- 120 of which were intentional -- and still managed to hit 45 home runs. In the first half, Bonds hit 23 home runs and drew 131 walks, which was more walks than any other player drew the entire season.
Outfield: Ted Williams (1946 Red Sox)
79 G, 244 sOPS+ (.347/.512/.693), 23 HR
Like Bonds, the Splendid Splinter had multiple seasons near the top of this list -- including three of the top 11 first halves by sOPS+. Here’s the crazy part about this first half rating so highly -- these were Williams’ first games after serving three years in the Marine Corps and U.S. Navy during World War II. Williams returned to the Majors without missing a beat, getting on base at a .512 clip and homering 23 times in his first 79 games in 1946, while walking 92 times compared to his 22 strikeouts. He started in left field in the All-Star Game and homered twice, including an eighth-inning home run against Rip Sewell's eeuphus. Williams ended the season with 11.6 WAR, the highest total in a season in one of the most impressive careers in baseball history.
Outfield: Mickey Mantle (1957 Yankees)
77 G, 241 sOPS+ (.369/.533/.706), 22 HR
A trio of Bonds, Williams and Mantle in the outfield feels oh so satisfying. The 1957 season earned Mantle the second of two straight AL MVP awards, with each of those seasons providing its unique distinction. After slugging a career-best 52 home runs in 1956, opposing pitchers were justifiably more cautious in ’57, walking Mantle a career-high 146 times. Ninety-one of those walks came in a first half, where Mantle got on base 53 percent of the time and crushed 22 homers. Mantle started six straight All-Star Games in center field for the American League from 1953-58.
Honorable mention: 1948 Stan Musial (228 sOPS+), 2011 José Bautista (226 sOPS+) and 2015 Bryce Harper (226 sOPS+)
Designated hitter: Edgar Martinez (1996 Mariners)
85 G, 201 sOPS+ (.346/.471/.702), 22 HR
Following a career-best season in 1995 -- he posted 7.0 WAR and a 1.107 OPS in his first full year as a designated hitter -- Martinez kept it rolling in ’96 with 5.9 WAR and a 1.056 OPS. Martinez’s stretch of brilliance from 1995-2001 saw him post a 1.019 OPS in 1,020 games while drawing significantly more walks (750) than strikeouts (638). Even during this era of Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez and so many more, Martinez managed to stand out with his offensive output. With the ’96 Midsummer Classic held at Philadelphia’s Veterans Stadium, no designated hitter was used, but Martinez was selected to the game and grounded out in a pinch-hit appearance.
Honorable mentions: 2022 Yordan Alvarez (195 sOPS+) and 2016 David Ortiz (195 sOPS+)