Judging Aaron
Turns out, New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge wasn’t really spending all this time weighing the pros and cons of participating in Monday’s Home Run Derby.
His mind was made up a while ago. And when Judge finally did let everyone in on his secret — alongside teammate Gary Sanchez at Monday’s news conference — it landed with maximum effect, conveniently enough, the day after the All-Star selection show aired on ESPN.
This is the entertainment business, after all, and why cram all the good stuff into one news cycle when there’s the opportunity to crank up the marketing machine to get a full 48 hours instead? Judge is the biggest thing going in baseball, and there was no way he was sitting out a nationally televised spectacle like the Derby. With the first-half frenzy around him, Judge must feel obligated to compete.
“I wanted to wait until the AllStar stuff went out,” Judge said. “My 100 percent focus was on the team and what we were doing on the field.”
Judge, as the top vote-getter in either league, is a guaranteed ratings bonanza. He’s going to bring eyeballs Monday night, and if MLB is able to set up the event to create a final showdown between Judge and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger, well, those two rookies may save the sport all by themselves.
Judge doesn’t have to do anything extraordinary to hit home runs. When he exerts that amount of force on a baseball, that’s just what happens.
“It’s just another round of BP, but in front of 50,000 people,” Judge said.