Aaron Judge is ruling.
New York Yankees sensation Aaron Judge sat with his parents at Dinosaur Bar-BQue in Rochester about two weeks ago.
The trio had just placed their orders when Judge’s manager at Class AAA Scranton/WilkesBarre (Moosic, Pa.), Al Pedrique, approached the family.
“(He) walks up and said ‘Hey, you guys better hurry up and eat,’ ” Judge told USA TODAY Sports. “You have to be in New York tomorrow.’ ”
Judge delivered five hits in his first 10 at-bats, including a massive 437-foot home run in his first big-league at-bat. He became the first Yankee to have extra-base hits in each of his first three games and had two homers, eight total hits and six RBI in his first 26 at-bats.
But there is a significance about Judge’s promotion and ideal start that extends beyond the early success at the plate. There’s the fact that he came up just as the Alex Rodriguez era ended, during a time when the Yankees traded some of their biggest stars at the Aug. 1 deadline and have embraced as fully as they have in decades the idea of promoting homegrown talent.
Judge is hardly alone — the six homers in 15 games from Gary Sanchez serve as the latest re- minder that there is a significant amount of young talent in the system — and his debut came immediately following a home run by teammate Tyler Austin in his first major league at-bat. It would be followed by one from Judge.
“After Tyler hit a home run his first at-bat, I had to kind of calm myself down a little bit on deck,” Judge said. “It’s a lot of emotions. I know how hard he’s worked the past couple years to get back. So to see him get that home run, it was such a special moment to be on deck, to see it unfold. So I had to tell myself, just go up there, see a pitch and hit it.”
Judge said he wasn’t trying to hit a home run. His 6-7 frame lends itself so easily to power, but so much of what he does at the plate comes down to pitch selection instead of force. An adjustment he made early this season, lowering his hands while retaining a leg kick he’d added in spring training, came from Judge watching other sluggers such as the Chicago Cubs’ Anthony Rizzo
There’s another part of Judge’s game that doesn’t get as much attention. The easy assumption for someone of Judge’s size is that first base or designated hitter are the two destinations on the field. But it doesn’t take long, watching Judge, to understand why he actually played some center field in the minor leagues.
“We think he’s going to be a very good defensive outfielder, a very good right fielder,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi told USA TODAY Sports. “And we’ve seen some of the things he’s done already, going forward, going back, his accuracy when he’s thrown to second base, how he’s not afraid to leave his feet.”
Judge thinks that it won’t take long for everyone to understand what he can do in the field. As he pointed out with wry understatement, “I think as it unfolds, I’ll get the chance to go out there more and make plays for my pitchers.”
As for what Judge wants to accomplish between now and October, that’s pretty simple: win. For a franchise with bottom-line tendencies and a lack of patience, Judge’s approach should fit in seamlessly, providing a helpful reminder for years to come that general manager Brian Cashman made the right choice when he kept Judge out of any trade conversations last summer.
It also helps that the Yankees, quietly forming a group of young stars, gave him a chance to play winning baseball at each level on his path to the big leagues.
“I’ve been surrounded by really good players,” Judge said.
That experience should only help him at the highest level.
“I don’t necessarily ever give a player too many goals, because I think they can be limitations,” Girardi said. “You reach those goals, you say ‘OK, I did my job.’ Well, no, we want more. So we expect him to be a contributor. That’s the bottom line. And we’ll take as much as he can give us.”