Aaron Judge is the New York Yankees 25 year-old rookie outfielder. And he’s gotten off to one hell of start here in 2017.
Through his first 18 games, he’s slashing .281/.352/.672, which, according to his wRC+ (180) is about 80% better than the average Major Leaguer. But he’s not just a stick. He can play defense too … really, really well.
That was on display last night when he wound up tracking (and catching!) a ball well into the stands:
Check it out again, as a GIF:
https://twitter.com/Yankees/status/857389487524950020
Judge, a right fielder, has been pretty phenomenal on defense all season long. His 4 defensive runs saved already is tied for second best in all of baseball. And his 1.0 WAR to date is tied for 17th best with Kris Bryant, Corey Seager, and Nolen Arenado (among a couple others).
[adinserter block=”1″]
But just because your good at defense, doesn’t mean your teammates stop worrying about you (and making fun of you … all at once):
Was Gardner worried seeing Judge crash? “Of course I was. That’s a big boy to be piled up on top of the nachos and peanuts.” #yankees
— David Lennon (@DPLennon) April 27, 2017
And to really pile on the praise, that wasn’t even Judge’s only highlight of the night. In addition to the catch, Judge also hit his seventh home run of the season, to give the Yankees the lead in second:
How does @TheJudge44 celebrate his birthday? Like this: https://t.co/NA3cDFoCtG pic.twitter.com/bv6HRwomVb
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 26, 2017
According to Statcast, that ball left the bat at 110 MPH and traveled 385 feet over the wall in right center field. It also brought Judge into some pretty nifty company:
Aaron Judge continues to MASH. #WhipAround pic.twitter.com/bWXV2xr56A
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) April 27, 2017
[adinserter block=”2″]
And given the power-hungry start to his career, fans are having a whole lot of fun on Twitter:
Aaron Judge is that create-a-player you'd make with maxed-out everything pic.twitter.com/VHy1VytLzg
— Rich (@RAKcity27) March 1, 2017
Because this is one big dude:
Pinstripes come in all sizes. pic.twitter.com/ctp6lE70cm
— ESPN (@espn) April 17, 2017
And he’s definitely having some fun.
https://twitter.com/Yankees/status/857378017818980352