TAMPA, Fla. -- "Batting second, in right field, No. 99, Aaron Judge."
Those were the words the reigning American League MVP had been longing to hear.
"Hearing your name called for the New York Yankees never gets old, if it's in Tampa, if it's in New York," Judge said after making his spring training debut Sunday afternoon against the Atlanta Braves. "It's something I didn't want to stop hearing once I became a free agent. To hear that those words again ... it was an exciting moment."
The uncertainty of free agency made it far from certain that Judge would ever hear those words again.