Baseball is a skills-based sport and anyone of any size can become good at hitting if they have certain talents, work ethic and hand speed. In baseball, size doesnt have anything to do with how well you can hit a baseball. Just ask Houstons 5-foot-7 hit machine Jose Altuve.
However, in the rare case that a player is 6-foot-7, 282-pounds of brick like New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge and he possesses all of the tools needed to be a consistent hitter, then you start to see extraterrestrial hitting displays like the one he produced on Sunday in a 14-3 Yankees win against the Baltimore Orioles.
Judge hit a shot that soared 496 feet, the longest distance a home run has traveled since ESPN began tracking home runs in 2009. Hes got his Giancarlo crush going pretty well as far as distance on his moonshots go.
MLB on Twitter
To the bleachers … and BEYOND! @TheJudge44 goes 495 feet, 2017’s longest homer. https://t.co/IzqlxNcb3y https://t.co/RvMvOJy5ip
Judge is hitting Reggie Jackson bombs every night in Yankees Stadium and hes built like Dave Winfield, so the ball goes a bit further into orbit. His celebrity is already now at the mercy of social media and the fans. The 25-year-old, bi-racial bomber will never get his simple life back as a three-sport local high school star in Linden, California turned nondescript minor leaguer starving for his shot at the next level.
Entering this season,the Yankees were excited to see how Judge progressed from a promising MLB stint in 2016 when he came up for 84 at-bats before his season ended prematurely with a grade 2 right oblique strain. He came out of the shoot firing this season and won American League Rookie of the Month Awards for April and May.
As the Yankees officially put the Derek Jeter Era to an end, rookie sensation Judge has exploded onto the biggest stage in baseball with a first half for the ages. Is it too early to be excited about Judges Triple Crown stats?
The Big Dipper leads baseball in homers (21), batting average (.341) and RBI. He hasnt just developed, he has flown off the charts of diamond-dopeness.
Aaron Judge | Yankees Highlights 2017
This man is definitely going to be a star this year. Go check out his early highlights of 2017. ————————————- 323 AVG | 14 HR | 29 RBI| ————————————- All clips belong to MLB Advanced Media. The song is by The Score and their label. Video made for entertainment purposes only.
He simplified his approach, said former Yankee and ESPN analyst Mark Teixeira. Hes using his height and weight to his advantage now. He shortened up his swing. Hes controlling the batters box as well as anyone in the game.
Its pretty clear who the new face of the Yankees is. But we’ve seen players get off to tremendous starts in baseball and then the league catches up to them a bit and they never achieve the greatness we predicted. Carrying the burden of being the top guy in New York can be overwhelming, even for a quiet, mild-mannered and religious individual like Judge.
Aaron Judge of his 495 ft home run and MVP season
Aaron Judge of his 495 ft home run and MVP season. Subscribe for daily sports videos! Subscribe here: http://bit.ly/10FUHE2 Like on Facebook: http://facebook.com/YESNetwork Follow on Twitter: http://bit.ly/1dtTy7q Follow on Instagram: http://bit.ly/PGQWNm
While his accomplishments surely lay the foundation for a monster season, I cant predict what kind of career he will have. Will he be more Mike Trout ? Will he hit the ground running in MVP form and never looks back? Or does Judge do a Yasiel Puig head fake and make us think hes going to be super special and then fizzle into solid.
Yankees fans are sure having a blast finding out.
