Aaron

Judge

Judge’s dominance this season is becoming ridiculous. He tattooed a 426 foot home run in the first inning here against Orioles’ starter Cade Povich and never made an out. Sadly, he was stranded in the on-deck circle in a one-run game after Trent Grishman struck out to record the final out in this one. Nevertheless, Judge has registered multiple hits in six of his last eight games and has a jaw-dropping 1.282 OPS through just over a month of play.

Goldschmidt gets an opportunity in the leadoff spot on Wednesday night with young lefty Cade Povich toeing the rubber for Baltimore. It’ll be red-hot Trent Grisham batting second followed by franchise cornerstone Aaron Judge and emerging slugger Ben Rice in the heart of the order.

Back batting second most of the time lately, Judge hasn’t had a lot of chances to drive in anyone but himself. Still, hitting with few men on base doesn’t seem to be bothering him at all. Even though his homer pace has slowed, he’s batting a remarkable .412 in 136 plate appearances.

Judge delivered the biggest blow in the ballgame as he crushed the first pitch Chris Bassitt threw in the sixth inning for a 376-foot (104.2 mph EV) opposite-field go-ahead solo homer. That would prove to be the difference in the ballgame. The 33-year-old superstar finished the day 1-for-4. He’s slashing an absolutely absurd .406/.500/.717 with eight homers, 27 RBI and three stolen bases through his first 28 games.

As has often been the case, Judge and Ben Rice, who hit his sixth homer, were most of the offense for the Yankees in a 3-2 loss. Judge’s line tonight was unique for him; he’d had 11 four-hit games previously, but all of them came with at least one RBI. In fact, he had totaled 15 homers in those 11 games. Judge is now hitting .414 this season in a league that’s batting just .237 on the whole.

Judge now has seven homers on the season with his solo shot in the seventh to give the Yankees their go-ahead run. He also doubled, singled and walked, and he is now slashing .409/.519/.803. Judge is one of the greatest offensive players of this generation, and that’d be true if he was hitting .000/.000/.000 for his entire postseason career.

Rice takes a seat to open Wednesday’s contest with tough lefty Kris Bubic toeing the rubber for Kansas City. The 26-year-old rising slugger has had a ton of success pulling the ball with authority in the early portion of the season, hitting .273/.385/.618 with five homers and two steals through 16 games. It’ll be Aaron Judge taking a turn at DH with Trent Grisham getting into the lineup in center field.

Obviously, this means nothing for Judge’s fantasy managers or his performance with the Yankees, but it’s a nice moment for him as a player and person. The Yankees right fielder mentioned that he wanted to be there for Team USA in the previous WBC, but he was in the middle of free agency, so he’s looking forward to this opportunity now.

Judge had just the one hit today and struck out in three of his remaining at-bats. He’s off to such a good start that his OPS declined in spite of the homer, dropping from 1.648 to 1.558.

Judge also stole a base while supposedly getting a half-day off as the Yankees’ designated hitter. The three-run homer in the first was his 500th career extra-base hit. 320 of those have been homers. He has five homers and 15 RBI in six games to start 2025.