Aaron Judge homered in his first at-bat as Yankees captain because of course he did

Mar 30, 2023 - 5:42 PM

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Aaron Judge has already done a lot of ridiculous things in his still-young MLB career.

In Judge’s debut back in August 2016, he was in the on-deck circle when fellow prospect Tyler Austin sent the Yankee Stadium crowd into a frenzy by homering in his first career at-bat. It was dropped into the short porch, but it counted nonetheless! Judge saw his pal do that, thought “pretty cool” and then promptly stole the spotlight entirely by launching a titanic 446-foot homer off the restaurant in dead center field in his first at-bat.

The memorable feats have only continued since then. In Judge’s surprising Rookie of the Year win in 2017, he set a new rookie record with 52 homers, broke physics at the Home Run Derby, nearly hit the concourse on a 495-foot shot, and did his best to send a pitch entirely out of T-Mobile Park in Seattle. He’s followed that up with multiple All-Star seasons and, at long last, an MVP win in 2022 after breaking Roger Maris’ American League plateau with 62 home runs.

The man can do anything. So is anyone really shocked that Judge celebrated his first Opening Day as Yankees captain under a new contract with 422 feet of dinger glory off Giants starter Logan Webb?

No. No one is shocked. These are just normal Aaron Judge things because Aaron Judge isn’t human. He is singular.

Poor Webb. For a few minutes in December, it looked like he would be Judge’s teammate today, and instead, No. 99 took him yard. So it goes!