Lennon: Aaron Judge is money in bank
New York Yankees' Aaron Judge looks on after he scored on his walk-off three-run home run against the Toronto Blue Jays during the ninth inning of an MLB baseball game at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, May 10, 2022. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Talk about inflation.
Gasoline? Milk? A used Toyota?
Those are nothing compared to the skyrocketing cost of Aaron Judge, whose price just keeps going up. Every day. Every swing.
Take Tuesday night, in the ninth inning, when Judge sent a Jordan Romano slider to the moon for a three-run walkoff blast that delivered an emotionally-charged 6-5 victory over the Blue Jays.
The Yankees, to a man, knew they just needed Judge to get to the plate. Somehow, some way. So when the Jays closer walked Jose Trevino (big mistake No. 1) and then DJ LeMahieu (big mistake No. 2), they had an idea where this game was headed.
“That was the plan,” Trevino said afterward. “I was pretty confident.”
One out, two on. The Yankees’ most dangerous hitter, really without a close second. At that point, even Romano behaved like he knew his fate was sealed. How else can you explain the pure hopelessness of that 1-and-2 slider, which spun meekly in the middle of the strike zone, as if sitting on a tee?
Judge already had beaten Romano mentally during that at-bat. After immediately falling in an 0-and-2 hole, Judge took a slider in the dirt, then fouled off a pair of two-strike pitches. When Romano went back to the slider again, it was the kind that hitters dream about. And Judge, in this situation, game on the line, more than 40,000 fans on their feet, got every ounce of it.
“It’s a weird feeling,” Judge said, “because you hear the crowd going crazy. You look at your bench, you see the guys jumping over the railing, all getting excited. It’s a special moment I get to share with them ... I’m just trying to do my job up there.”
The Yankees offered Employee No. 99 what they believed was a fair deal on the eve of Opening Day, what amounted to an eight-year extension worth $230.5 million. That’s a ton of cash, especially when Judge turned 30 two weeks ago. It was a bold move, but Judge chose to bet on himself, thinking he could push that number closer to $300 million.
Right now, here in mid-May, Judge’s stacks of chips are growing. He’s hit safely in 11 of his last 13 games, batting .321 (17-for-53) with seven homers, 17 RBIs and a 1.123 OPS during that span. The Yankees are 7-1 when Judge goes deep this season. There’s a long way to go in determining the MVP race in the American League, but on this team? It’s always Judge. Period. End of discussion.
And what Judge did Tuesday night was priceless. Now in his seventh season calling the Bronx home, he’s unfazed by the big moment. The pressure, the noise, the brightness of the stage. From a baseball perspective, he was born in it. So when Romero’s knees were practically knocking together on the mound, Judge was at the peak of his powers, enabling him to hammer a 414-foot blast (exit velo: 112.5 mph) through a stiff wind that barely anyone could dent the past week.
“Playing here in New York, you got a situation like that every single day,” Judge said. “You come up in the first inning with a couple of guys on base and the crowd’s on their feet cheering so ... I know what type of lineup we have, the guys behind me, I just try to keep it simple. If I get a good pitch, put a good swing on it and do something. But I not I know the guys behind me will pick us up. Honestly, it makes it so you just go out there and try to enjoy the moment.”
Judge can say he’s just another guy trying to keep the pinstriped line moving, but he’s way bigger than that. These Yankees aren’t the bullies of the AL East without him, and that 6-foot-7 frame isn’t just for show. When Josh Donaldson got smoked on the left arm by a Yimi Garcia fastball in the sixth inning -- Garcia was ejected soon after -- the enraged Judge already had one leg over the dugout rail before the umpires cooled things down.
“When Josh got hit, I think that locked all of us in like, OK, it’s go-time,” Judge said. “Especially for me. It kind of got me going a little bit.”
If you’re the Blue Jays, or Red Sox, or any other division rival -- or remaining opponent on the Yankees’ schedule, for that matter -- you don’t want to get Judge going. That’s a terrible strategy. Just like giving two free passes in front of him with a two-run lead in the ninth.
“I’m glad he was walking up there, I’ll tell you that much,” Aaron Boone said.
Another game-winning swing later, and the price just keeps going up from here.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
