The controversy developing from Aaron Judge’s shifty eyes before he hit a towering home run against the Blue Jays on Monday night may have been sparked by Toronto’s announcing crew.
Before Judge hit a 462-foot homer against Toronto reliever Jay Jackson, television cameras caught the 2022 AL MVP shifting his eyes toward the Yankees dugout, and the Blue Jays’ broadcast crew used some accusatory language to describe the scene.
“All right Buck (Martinez), so you and I looked at each other at the same moment right when we saw this, three pitches ago,” play-by-player Dan Shulman said as SportsNet flashed to a shot of Judge’s eyes shifting back toward the dugout.
“What is that? Where is he looking?”
“Really, really unusual,” Martinez, a former MLB catcher, responded. “You and I both looked at each other when we saw that.”
“You don’t want to go throwing allegations around without knowing, but…” Shulman replied.
Then, Judge pummeled the next pitch to center field, and the broadcast crew got even more incredulous.
“Once again, he’s looking at something, then the next move is that powerful swing, and he blasts one to center field,” Martinez said after Judge rounded the bases, with the broadcast flashing back to Judge’s eyes. “I’ve not seen that before with him. I’ve not ever seen that.”
“Do you think he’s trying to see if he can see [Blue Jays catcher Alejandro] Kirk, if Kirk’s away?” Shulman asked. “It’s more likely to be a slider if Kirk’s in, and he can’t see him, it’s more likely to be a fastball?”
Martinez did clarify that it was unlikely that Judge could see Kirk from his stance and the way his head was facing, but the juicy questions were already gaining steam on social media.
After the game, Jackson spoke to the media and raised his concern.
“When I came back to the dugout (one of the coaches) told me you’re going to be pissed when you see the video,” Jackson said. “He said they are tipping pitches.”
“Kind of odd that a hitter would be looking in that direction,” Toronto manager John Schneider added. “He’s obviously looking in that direction for a reason and dive into it a little more tonight and tomorrow and make sure we’re doing everything we can to make ourselves susceptible to tendencies.”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone chalked it up to “chirping” coming from the Yankees’ dugout.
“I think a lot of our guys were still letting them hear it and Judgie was kind of looking over like, ‘I’m hitting here,’” Boone said.
