Yankee teammates all rise in awe of Aaron Judge’s rookie season.
Teammates rise for Judge after his record homers
Didi Gregorius bumped into Aaron Judge in the video room on Monday, shortly after the slugger already had tied Mark McGwire’s record for most home runs in baseball history by a rookie in one season. “You might as well just break it today,” Gregorius told him. Judge did just that, ripping his second homer of the game in the seventh inning to become the first rookie — and just the fifth Yankee ever — to reach 50 home runs.
“It really is incredible,” Joe Girardi said. “I think we’ll appreciate it more when we have a chance to sit down and think about what he’s done this year.
“I really didn’t know what to expect … But I’m not sure I would have expected this. This a great year for any superstar. Being a rookie, it’s really remarkable.”
Girardi and several teammates endorsed Judge as a leading candidate for the AL MVP award; the 6-foot-7 outfielder also leads the league in runs scored (124) and walks (120) — and yes, strikeouts (203) — with a .283/.418/.620 slash line.
“Everybody’s gonna say ‘oh, the strikeouts,’ but I think if I’m an owner or a GM, I’ll take 300 strikeouts with the year he’s putting up,” Todd Frazier said. “Man, it’s unbelievable, it really is. I don’t know if he came in this year expecting to hit 50, but I know he expected to produce and he did it.
“It’s exciting for everybody, chasing something like that. Not only breaking the rookie record, but hitting 50, I think it’s unbelievable. I’m proud to know him and see what he’s been through this whole year.”
Indeed, Judge slumped after carrying the Yankees with 30 homers before the All-Star break, batting .185 in August. But he now has 13 homers and 26 RBI in September, both season-highs for any month.
“The way he started the season, I thought he was going to hit 60 or 70,” Gary Sanchez said through a translator. “He went into a slump, like we all do, but I always had faith in him. And this is the result we’re seeing. This is what he’s capable of.”
Sanchez, who missed most of April with an arm injury, immediately followed Judge’s second homer of the game with his 33rd blast of the season in the seventh. Greg Bird also belted his sixth homer since returning from a nearly four-month DL stint (foot surgery) on Aug. 26.
“That’s a lot of home runs. It’s been cool to watch,” Bird said of Judge. “And there’s still time for him to go. What an accomplishment, it’s incredible. ”
Judge’s teammates even prodded him to emerge from the dugout for a rare curtain call from the Stadium crowd after breaking McGwire’s record.
“I think if there’s a player deserving of a curtain call, I think what he did to reach that milestone, I think he deserved to go out there,” Girardi said.