Aaron Judge’s Tantalizing Power Resurfaces in Yankees’ Exhibition Debut
By BILLY WITZFEB. 24, 2017
TAMPA, Fla. — Neither the $40 million stadium renovation nor the lure of watching ballyhooed Yankees prospects could draw a capacity crowd to Steinbrenner Field on Friday.
But those who did show up for the Yankees’ exhibition opener — including the football coaching brothers Rex and Rob Ryan — were rewarded with plenty of action in a 9-4 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.
Bryan Mitchell and Luis Cessa, who are competing for a spot in the starting rotation, helped keep the Phillies off the bases until the seventh inning, and two players who showed spikes in power last season — shortstop Didi Gregorius and catcher Kyle Higashioka — hit home runs.
But the showstopper was Aaron Judge, the mammoth outfielder, who hit a home run so high and so far that it clanked off the top of the 40-foot scoreboard in center field.
“Who’s not impressed by that?” Gregorius said. “I told him to check the scoreboard to make sure it’s O.K.”
Judge, who is 6 feet 7 inches and 275 pounds, looks more suited to line up at defensive end for the Ryan twins than to play baseball. His debut in the major leagues last season was marked by a towering home run in his first career at-bat and by the parade of strikeouts that followed. He hit .179 with four home runs, but struck out 42 times in 95 plate appearances.
“I’ve said all along, if he gets the barrel of the bat to the ball, he’s going to do a lot of damage,” Manager Joe Girardi said. “There’s going to be some strikeouts, and you can live with some strikeouts, but he’s a guy that can be extremely productive because of the raw power that he has.”
Judge said he had spent the winter focusing on keeping his weight on his back hip, with the belief that it is the source of his power and balance — as it has been for hitters like Miguel Cabrera and Alex Rodriguez. Judge said Rodriguez had told him that “he wanted to feel like he was squatting 300 pounds.”
Judge struck out in his first at-bat on Friday, chasing a slider in the dirt from the right-hander Nick Pivetta. But when Judge saw another first-pitch fastball in his next at-bat, against the left-hander Elniery Garcia, he was ready for it.
It was the second time in three years that Judge had homered in the exhibition opener. In 2015, he hit a tying home run in the ninth against the Phillies.
The Yankees would like Judge to win the right-field job, but he will have to play better than Aaron Hicks and any other candidates this spring. That suits him fine.
“You’re never given anything, so I feel like it’s everyone’s job to take,” Judge said. “I feel like everyone should come into spring training with the mind-set that they’re out there to take a job. Nothing’s ever handed out or given.”
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