A year ago last Sunday, Aaron Judge first arrived in The Bronx. In his first-at bat, he crushed a 446-foot home run to dead center field.
“I’ve seen that before,” Reggie Jackson said of Judge’s power after the game in the Yankee clubhouse.
“I was on the other end of it.”
Twelve months later, the 6-foot-7, 282-pound right fielder has positioned himself as one of the favorites to win the American League Most Valuable Player award and is a virtual lock to win AL Rookie of the Year.
Not only did he break the franchise rookie home-run record by hitting his 30th homer in just 80 games — knocking Joe DiMaggio from the record book — but he also made Statcast a household word, smacking the four hardest hits of the season, topping off at 121.