#Middlebury #ASportingView
By Mark Vasto
When Patrick Ewing was traded by the Knicks in a four-team, 12-player deal in the year 2000, Michael Jordan shook his head in disdain.
“You shouldn’t treat your legends like that,” Jordan said, referring to Ewing’s Hall of Fame run in New York. Jordan surmised that the franchise would suffer from the trade in both the short and long run. (He was right – the Knicks haven’t done a thing since.)
Things work a little differently in the Bronx. Alex Rodriguez, a 14-time All-Star and three-time MVP, the fourth greatest home-run hitter in history (just four homers shy of 700), was unceremoniously dumped by the Yankees last August after 12 years in pinstripes. There were no fireworks, no Yankee greats lining up on the infield in blazers handing him gifts and wreaths … no, the Yankees said he would be hired as an adviser and they’d pay him $27,103,825 to that end.
The Yankees didn’t waste any time filling the gap. After trading away Aroldis Chapman and Carlos Beltran, and with Mark Texeira announcing his retirement, the Bombers called up first baseman Tyler Austin and right fielder Aaron Judge from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre. They were told that they were not there to sit – they were there to play.
They didn’t disappoint. Batting 7th and 8th in the lineup, both Austin and Judge homered in their first major-league at-bats, the first time that has ever happened. And while Austin slipped back down to the minors, Judge won the starting job in right field and won over New York with his bat and demeanor.
At 6-foot-7 and 275 pounds, he is the largest baseball player in terms of body mass ever to play the game. He wears a size 17 shoe. It would seem that his size would be a liability; after all, big body equals big strike zone. While strikeouts were a problem for Judge in the minors, he has buckled down in the majors and has put up historic numbers.
He is the first rookie to hit 13 homers in the first 26 games of a season. The only other player to match that number was Willie Mays in his non-rookie year of 1964. Judge holds the record for exit velocity – the speed at which a baseball leaves a bat – and has hit Ruthian blasts to all fields in every field he’s played; his homers average 406 feet, including a 497-foot MOAB he hit in Pittsburgh.
As of this writing, Judge is hitting .330 with an on-base percentage of .440 and slugging percentage of .693, with 26 home runs. Only three other rookies finished a season with slash lines better than .300/.400/.600: George Watkins, Ted Williams and Albert Pujols. Judge is on pace to hit 57 home runs, which would eclipse Mark McGwire’s record of 49, set in 1986.
And much to the chagrin of Yankee haters the world over, Judge’s approach to the game and his overall humble demeanor has drawn comparisons to St. Derek Jeter himself. Even if Judge were to suffer a massive slump in the second half, his stats still eclipse the rookie efforts of guys like Bonds, Mantle and even Ruth.
Is he the next great Yankee legend? Aaron’s bat will be the final arbiter and judge, and we have been called to witness.
Mark Vasto is a veteran sportswriter who lives in New Jersey.
(c) 2017 King Features Synd., Inc.
