Greatness often isn’t appreciated until it’s no longer in front of you and Aaron Boone is starting to catch himself taking what’s in front of him for granted in Aaron Judge.
“Yea, I don’t know, I feel like he’s still getting there,” Boone said of Judge on Thursday, who is hitting .417 with five homers and 15 RBIs through six games this season. “[I have to snap myself out of expecting more from him] all the time. He hit the double today, I’m like ‘Eh, alright, probably could’ve done more with that pitch.’ And that’s when I’m like, ‘he’s 3-for-4, single, double, homer.’
“And then the last one he stings a ball 110 [mph] to the shortstop and I’m like ‘did you miss that 1-0?’ So, I catch myself having these ridiculous conversations with him because he keeps setting the bar so darn high.”
The Yankees captain finished Thursday’s win over the DBacks 3-for-5 with four RBI.
Judge is coming off his second MVP season where he produced arguably the greatest offensive season by a right-handed hitter in MLB history, slashing .322/.458/.701 with 58 homers, 122 RBI, posting an 11.2 fWAR and 218 wRC+. The 32-year-old reached another milestone on Thursday night, recording his 500th extra base hit in his 999th career game. The only Yankees to reach that mark in fewer games are Joe DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig.
Engraving his name in the history books has become the norm for the single-season AL home run record holder, however, his teammates still marvel at what he does every day.
“Guys keep getting on for him and he just keeps on performing, man,” said Jazz Chisholm Jr. “Showing us why he’s the MVP of this league and one of the best players to ever play this game. We all just try to be like him. We all tell him every day like, ‘hey, we want to be you when we grow up.
“At the same time, we’re just out here playing a team game and we got our big brother leading us; it helps a lot.”
Judge got off to a famously slow start in his MVP 2024 season. The slugger was slashing .197/.331/.393 through his first 33 games, tallying only six homers before scorching earth en route to a historic year. The veteran already has five homers in the first six games of this season.
The captain said his preparation for 2025 was different in order to avoid another slow start.
“Just how we prepared in spring training [is helping me get off to a fast start],” said Judge. “Did a couple things a little different just to get myself ready for Opening Day — I think that’s the most important thing. Spring training last year, I think I played in the first game and was kind of, play a day, off a day, play a day, off a day.
“I kinda wanted to ramp up, so I was playing basically almost every day, kinda going into the season ready to go. So, just little changes like that, nothing crazy.”
It’s easy to wonder where Judge’s numbers may end up at the end of this season not only without a slow start but one where he came roaring out of the gate. And the Yankees, along with Chisholm Jr., are thinking exactly along those lines.
“Think of last year he hit, what, 58 [homers]? And had a bad first month. So, imagine right now what he’s about to do.”
