Commentary: Aaron Judge leads the league in all sorts of offensive categories while the Guardians lag behind

Hands please, how many of you out there can tell me how many offensive categories Aaron Judge leads the American League in? If you guessed three, you are wrong. Way wrong. So wrong that you should not even be allowed to go to a baseball game, much less call up on your computer Baseball-Reference's offensive leaders page. Here is a hint: even if you guessed that Judge leads in four, five or six categories, you would still be wrong, way wrong. There are 47 different categories on Baseball-Reference's statistical leaders page. Judge, by himself, leads in 26 of those categories. You, me and all our friends together do not lead the AL in any offensive categories, mainly because we do not even know what most of the offensive categories are. Thankfully, all the baseball eggheads — and I mean that in a highly respectful way — have all the data, all the hard drive, all the line drive, all the soft-drive and all the drive that is in between, to deliver to us each morning all the data that is necessary to remind us that we do not know jack. You don't believe me? OK, take a swing at this category that, just this morning, I plucked out of leaders page. Are you ready? OK, here goes: base-out runs added (RE24), base-out wins added. I thought I would give you an easy one for starters. So, you will never guess who leads the major leagues in that category. If you said Judge, congratulations. I think all of us know what "base-out runs added (RE24) means. But just in case, I'll give you a hint: I have no bleeping clue. It must be important, though, because, as most of you, but not me, know, its sister category, "base-out wins added (REW)" won an ESPY. Go figure. How baseball survived in the pre-hard-drive era, nobody knows. But at least in today's baseball world, we can at least make fun of it (Relax! I'm kidding!). For example ... here are some of the 26 categories in which Judge leads the majors: situational wins ddded (WPA/LI), rOBA, ddjusted batting wins, championship WPA, win probability added (cWPA), singles (I have no idea what that means), adjusted batting runs, base out, wins added and my personal favorite counting stat — weak ground balls back to the pitcher, as the crowd groans. If there is one thing major league baseball needs less of, and let's be honest, there are tons of things MLB needs less of, it is useless stats. That will never happen, of course, because once the statistical gate keepers swing open their gates, it's every .220 hitter for himself. Let's face it, banjo hitters should be seen and not heard. Unfortunately, for many teams, their weakest hitters are both seen and heard. The proof from that pudding is that Judge this season has been leading the league in pretty much any of the stats he chooses to lead the league in, and by the looks of it he's got a good chance of leading the league in all of them. The Guardians? They have two hitters: Jose Ramirez and Steven Kwan. It's hard to win a pennant with just two hitters, unless the hitters are Judge and Ramirez. Judge is making a mockery of the batting race this season. At the start of play Wednesday he was hitting .360, which was 25 points higher than any other hitter in the league. Judge was also leading the league in leading the league. Having a hitter that prodigious is one way to consistently be among the top hitters in the league, not to mention being able to help keep your team at the top of the standings. One reason why the Guardians have been coughing and wheezing their way through this season so far is that their roster is not built to scare other teams' pitching staffs. Indeed, the Guardians' lineup from game to game is painfully repetitive. With the exception of Ramirez and Kwan, the team's lineup from game-to-game scares nobody. At the start of play Wednesday night, the batting averages of the team's most-used hitters this season — aside from Ramirez and Kwan — look like this: .177, .230, .213, 231, .238, .229, .217, .160, .193 and .150. With all due respect, that deserves no respect. The Guards have been going big-game hunting with slingshots. It is a team with good intentions, minus the wherewithal to produce big-game results. That's a dicey way to approach a baseball season. Some teams occasionally pull it off, but it is not the kind of blueprint that is going to consistently rattle your opponents' nerves. The only thing the Guardians have going for them is they have been down this road before. It is the only road they know, and their opponents know it. Contact Jim Ingraham at jingraham4@gmail.com.