As a whopping 6’7 282 pound right fielder, Aaron Judge is second in home runs with seven in the American League. Though these impressive numbers are worth talking about, the importance lies not with how many home runs he has, but how long they are. On Saturday in Pittsburgh, Judge hit a towering 460-foot home run which is the third longest for a Yankee, since ESPN began tracking the distance in 2009.
Aaron Judge: Going the Distance
He is in good company with Alex Rodriguez and Juan Miranda being the two Yankees who are ahead of him in distance. In August of 2015, A-Rod blasted a homer that went 477 feet, while Miranda’s in October of 2009 was 469 feet. Chase Headley takes the fourth spot with a 453-footer in July of 2016. Headley and the rest of his teammates are eager to see if everything can click with Judge. In a recent interview with Andrew Marchand, Headly said:
“We are all just waiting for that time where everything just syncs up and and he gets every bit of it,” Headley said. “I want to see him do that. He is just a humongous human being that has out-of-this-world power. Five hundred fifty feet is not out of the question. If there is nothing in the way, he is hitting it 550.”
The 37-year old slugger Matt Holliday who has always studied teammates, as well as opponents in the batting cage weighed in on the power of Judge:
“There aren’t many guys that can hit the ball as far as him in batting practice, if any,” Holliday said. “Obviously, Stanton is the easy one that comes to mind that I’ve played against. Barry Bonds, too.”
During Spring Training in 2016, Judge’s performance was so bad, he made the Yankees hesitant in giving him the nod for the starting right-field job. He struck out in 42 of his 84 at-bats. In the end, the Yankees decided to give him the nod over Aaron Hicks. Since then, Judge has struck out 17 times in 61 at bats so far. A vast improvement from that time.
Main Photo
