Aaron

Judge

Judge is in right field and batting second in his spring debut. The 32-year-old fantasy superstar has reached the 58-homer mark in two of the last three seasons and remains a first-round selection in all fantasy formats. His RBI totals may take a hit this season following generational talent Juan Soto’s departure to the Mets, but it’s not enough to consider dropping him behind other elite outfielders like Soto, Kyle Tucker, Mookie Betts and Corbin Carroll.

Judge hit third for most of 2024 with Juan Soto hitting second, but with Soto gone, Boone plans to hit the reigning MVP in the second spot; a place he hit the majority of 2023. It gives Judge a few more at-bats, and while he may not have quite as many RBI opportunities, the counting stats should be there for Judge — and then some — again in 2025.

Judge isn’t usually much for the extra curriculars — he’s never played in the WBC, and he’s hasn’t participated in a Home Run Derby since winning it as a rookie in 2017 — and the Yankees definitely like it that way. So, we’ll have to wait and see if this works out. The 2023 Team USA roster included Mookie Betts, Mike Trout, Kyle Tucker, Kyle Schwarber and Cedric Mullins as outfield options. Getting Judge on the team and maybe adding Jackson Merrill to the mix would make for some fun setups.

There was never any doubt on this one, as the 32-year-old slugger was a unanimous selection — capturing all 30 first-place votes for the award. It’s the second time in his career that Judge has won the award, as he captured the honor in 2022 as well. He was certainly deserving — slashing a monstrous .322/.458/.701 while leading the league with 58 home runs, 144 RBI and 133 walks. Bobby Witt Jr. finished as the runner-up, garnering all 30 of the second-place votes. Juan Soto, Gunnar Henderson and José Ramírez rounded out the top five in the voting.

It’s the fourth Silver Slugger Award for Judge following a 58-homer, 144-RBI campaign where he finished with a surreal 1.159 OPS over 158 games. The other big takeaways here are Juan Soto tying Mike Trout for the most Silver Sluggers (five) before turning 26 and Brent Rooker becoming the first Athletics player to take home the hardware since 2002. Here are the rest of the American League winners: Salvador Perez (C), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (1B), Jose Altuve (2B), José Ramírez (3B), Bobby Witt Jr. (SS), Anthony Santander (OF), Juan Soto (OF), Aaron Judge (OF), Brent Rooker (DH) and Josh Smith (UTIL).

No surprises here as Judge is considered the heavy favorite to take home the hardware, which would be his second in the last three seasons, on the heels of a stellar 58-homer, 144-RBI campaign where he led the majors in both on-base percentage (.458) and slugging percentage (.701). Meanwhile, Soto is on the precipice of landing a lucrative multi-year contract on the open market after a stellar New York debut where he slugged a career-best 41 round-trippers. It’ll be the first top-three finish for Kansas City’s franchise cornerstone after Witt led the majors last season with an astonishing 211 hits, leading to a stratospheric .332 batting average.

Judge and Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit back-to-back homers off Jack Flaherty in the first, and Judge went on to reach base three more times and make a terrific jumping catch in center. Unfortunately, though, his drop on a routine fly in the fifth will probably be remembered as much as his offense tonight, as it opened the door for what turned into a five-run inning for the Dodgers. Judge finished 4-for-18 with four walks in the World Series.

Judge’s swing looks broken. John Smoltz correctly pointed out on the FOX broadcast that Judge’s front hip is flying open too early, which is preventing him from driving the ball. That’s if he were to make contact. Judge is now 6-for-40 with 19 strikeouts in the playoffs. That’s a 47 percent strikeout percentage, which is nearly twice as high as the 24 percent strikeout percentage he had during the regular season. He’s 1-for-9 with six strikeouts already in the World Series. The Yankees absolutely need Judge to break out of this funk if they’re going to get back in the series after falling behind 2-0, but he doesn’t look close to doing that at the moment.

There were no real surprises among the players’ awards picks. Shohei Ohtani won NL Outstanding Player, Tarik Skubal claimed AL Outstanding Pitcher and Chris Sale took home both NL Outstanding Pitcher and NL Comeback Player. Colton Cowser and Jackson Merrill got the Outstanding Rookie awards. Tyler O’Neill, who played in 113 games in the second-best season of his career, was AL Comeback Player.

The winner won’t have to make a special trip to pick up his hardware, since both Judge and Ohtani will be in attendance, of course. We imagine Judge will be the pick here, but we’ll see. Other so-called “finalists” for the awards are Judge, Witt and José Ramírez for AL Outstanding Player; Ohtani, Francisco Lindor and Marcell Ozuna for NL Outstanding Player; Emmanuel Clase, Logan Gilbert and Tarik Skubal for AL Outstanding Pitcher; Chris Sale, Paul Skenes and Zack Wheeler for NL Outstanding Pitcher; Wilyer Abreu, Colton Cowser and Austin Wells for AL Outstanding Rookie and Jackson Chourio, Jackson Merrill and Skenes for NL Outstanding Rookie.