TAMPA – It might be time to wrap Aaron Judge in bubble wrap until opening day, or at least until the World Baseball Classic.
Making his Grapefruit League debut much earlier than normal as he leaves camp next week to captain Team USA in the WBC, the Yankees slugger wasted no time looking like he was in midseason form.
Judge crushed a pair of home runs Saturday afternoon at George M. Steinbrenner Field, delighting the sold-out crowd early with a 20-3 victory over the Tigers in the spring home opener.
“It’s spring training,” Judge deadpanned.
But this is unlike any spring Judge has ever had.
Normally he resorts to fairly pointless Grapefruit League matches in the first week of March, but this year he’s playing high-stakes matches with Team USA, with pool matches set for March 6-10 and the knockout rounds to follow.
“Even if we go back to last year, [I was] I’m trying to get more at-bats early so I can be ready in April,” Judge said. “It felt like that worked for us and I’m trying to do the same as last year.
“But even in the WBC you don’t want to be in the public eye, man. You play for your country, so you have to be ready to go.”
Two years ago, Judge got off to a quiet start in April before turning red hot for the rest of the year, the opening month the only blemish on his dominant MVP campaign. So he entered camp last year with the goal of getting more exhibition at-bats under his belt, hoping it would result in a stronger start.
The result? Judge hit .427 with 10 home runs and a 1.282 OPS in March and April on his way to a second straight MVP.
Now Judge’s preseason preparation starts even earlier, as he will play again on Sunday against the Mets (as designated hitter), with Aaron Boone planning to start him in four or five games before heading to Team USA camp next Sunday.
“It’s all about the preparation. But if I don’t get results, I get questions about what happened to the power. So I’m glad I don’t have to talk about that,” he said with a grin. “It’s about getting ready. At this point in my career I have things I need to work on, things I need to do that will help us put out the best team. I’ll figure out the results and all that by playing real games.”
Proving that spring results don’t matter, Judge didn’t hit a single home run in the spring of 2024 before crushing 58 during the regular season.
But the Yankees, who are about to go more than two weeks without seeing Judge’s at-bats up close, were pleased with what they saw Saturday.
After flying out in his first at-bat, Judge drilled a cutter at the bottom of the zone, 450 feet to the batter’s eye, in his second at-bat. And in his third, he turned on a 90-mph fastball and smoked it 400 feet down the left field line that he was somehow able to keep fair.
“Just some really good swings, good at-bats,” Boone said.
Soon, Judge will take them to Team USA, fulfilling a long-standing goal of representing his country for the first time in his career. Besides wanting to win the WBC, it’s not surprising that he sees the tournament as an opportunity to improve by being among the best of the best.
“That’ll be the coolest part,” Judge said. “[There’s] very few opportunities – at All-Star games you get the chance to be among the best players in the world, but this room will be different. You have some of the best players in the US all in one room. It will be exciting, fun.
“Getting a chance to pick some guys’ brains a little bit and see how – more preparation. That’s the one thing I always look at with every guy we get here is, how do they prepare? How do you prepare to be great? All those guys in that room are going to be great, so it’ll be fun.”
#Aaron #Judge #shows #hes #ready #world #powerful #spring #debut