The baseball collided with the bat in Aaron Judge’s powerful hands, and you knew it was gone just by the sound, an old familiar Bronx Bomber sound out of yesteryear.
It was Yankees 6, Rays 3 as Erasmo Ramirez delivered the gopher ball and Yankees 8, Rays 3 by the time Judge had completed his third home-run trot in the last three games, and Yankees 8, Rays 4 when it ended.
Here come Da Judge indeed.
With one Bambino-esque swing, Judge had the Bronx observing Mash Wednesday.
Mickey Mantle barely missed bashing a home run out of the old Yankee Stadium against Bill Fischer on May 22, 1963.
Now it is Judge who inspires that kind of imagination.
If it is true that chicks dig the long ball, Judge will be New York’s most eligible bachelor in a landslide.
“I think people are curious how far they can see Aaron Judge hit a ball,” manager Joe Girardi said.
The kid is 6 feet 7, 275 pounds, is it any wonder? He probably could have carried Babe Ruth around the bases on his Paul Bunyan shoulders.
He was asked if he was surprised how far the home run went (437 feet), which nearly became the fourth ball to ever hit off the glass facing of the 1893 Club in center field.
“I was just trying to make contact,” Judge said. “If my barrel can beat the ball to the spot, I think good things are gonna happen. That’s all I was trying to do there.”
He was asked if he watches where his home runs land.
“When I hit them, I just start running bases, because you never know what can happen, the wind could knock it out, something could happen, so I’m just gonna make sure I’m always running,” Judge said.
He was asked if he admires any of his long ones on film.
“Not really,” he said. “Maybe if it was my last one, whatever, I would. But it’s still early in my career. I’m not gonna admire any of them right now, so …”
He was informed that Suzyn Waldman was wondering on radio if he might be the first to hit one out of Yankee Stadium. Judge smiled and said:
“I gotta pick the right day, I gotta have the wind blowing out, I gotta have storm brewing or something, so …”
He remains the gentle giant when someone asks what it is like to have Yankees fans curious to see how far he can hit a baseball.
“Uh, great, I guess,” Judge said, and chuckled. “I don’t know how to answer that one. To be honest, I’m trying to make good contact and get on base and just be a consistent part of this lineup.”
Judge’s slash line after 29 plate appearances: .308/.379/.692. He is 6-for-11 in his last three games with his three home runs and six RBIs.
He has fanned six times in 16 at-bats this season; last season, he struck out 42 times in 84 at-bats while blasting four HRs.
“Watching his BP, I’ve seen balls go farther than any other balls I’ve ever seen,” Chase Headley said. “Obviously he’s a massive human being. He’s got that kind of power, and he’s figuring out how to use it, and it’s fun. It’s exciting to see a guy coming into his own and starting to figure out things in the major leagues. I like the adjustments that I’ve seen from him so far and I think he’s getting confident, and that’s a big part of being successful in the major leagues.”
Judge’s growth was frighteningly evident on the screaming RBI single that tied the game 3-3 in the sixth and nearly decapitated reliever Jumbo Diaz.
“He’s not a guy that has to take big swings,” Headley said. “That’s the beauty of being a massive human being is you have that type of power, you can just be simple and short to the ball. It’s kind of like a Miguel Cabrera-type thing where he can take a really short swing that if I take that same swing, I’m hitting a single to right where he’s hitting the ball out of the ballpark. That’s the beauty of being big is you can not overswing and still do damage, and he’s figuring that out.”
Oh, by the way, the single had an exit velocity of 116.5 mph, the fastest base hit in the major leagues this season, according to Statcast.
“A single works there. I don’t have to hit a three-run homer,” Judge said.
If Judge continues to evolve, pitchers will fear him. And when he connects, hear him.
Asked how he would describe the sound the ball makes off Judge’s bat, Headley chuckled and said: “It’s distinguished. … He’s swinging a big bat that he makes look small and he’s just so strong. He doesn’t swing hard for his size. He just swings hard because he’s that big. That’s the beauty of being that big.”
Here come Da Judge.