Judge barreling toward hallowed 500-homer club

New York Yankees' Aaron Judge (99) hits a double during the seventh inning against the Chicago Cubs on Saturday in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Aaron Judge became the fastest player in MLB history to reach 350 career homers on Saturday and it feels inevitable that the Bronx slugger will join the hallowed 500-homer club sometime in the next several years.
He could have plenty of company.
The 28-player group could swell significantly in the coming decade, with Yankees teammate Giancarlo Stanton (432), Mike Trout (395), Paul Goldschmidt (370), Manny Machado (359), Freddie Freeman (353), Nolan Arenado (351) and Bryce Harper (346) all within striking distance.
Lurking a little further down the active leaderboard, Kyle Schwarber (314), Eugenio Suarez (307), Mookie Betts (282), Francisco Lindor (267), Shohei Ohtani (257) and Pete Alonso (247) are piling up big numbers and still in their early 30s.
And then there’s Juan Soto, who already has 224 homers at the tender age of 26.
Some are stronger candidates than others, given their injury history and age. The 35-year-old Stanton has battled various ailments over the past several seasons, but has been productive when he’s played.
The 33-year-old Trout has been slowed by injuries, too, but hit enough homers in his 20s that it would be surprising if he didn’t eventually reach the mark.
This generation’s group of sluggers is reminiscent of a stretch from 2001 to 2009, when Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr., Jim Thome, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, Manny Ramirez, Frank Thomas and Gary Sheffield all made it to 500.
The biggest difference is several of those players’ accomplishments were tainted — at least to some — because it was part of a era that included widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs.
The club has been relatively hard to join over the past decade. The last to reach 500 was Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera on Aug. 22, 2021.
Before that, Red Sox star David Ortiz slugged his 500th homer in 2015.
Even among the elite sluggers, Judge stands out for the speed in which he’s piling up dingers. Many forget he didn’t play his first full big league season until he was 25, but the 33-year-old has needed just 1,088 games to reach 350 homers.