Sports
Aaron Judge does it all, this time with a home-run-robbing, double-play gem
We all know he can do it with his bat.
The glove work is pretty nice, too.
In the midst of a scorching streak at the plate that has him threatening home run records — again — Aaron Judge made one of the best defensive plays of the season on Monday against the Washington Nationals.
With the Yankees leading 2-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning, Nationals first baseman Andrés Chaparro hit a deep fly ball off Nestor Cortes that looked bound for the left-center-field stands. But Judge had other plans.
The Yankees center fielder tracked the ball to the warning track and timed his jump perfectly. He snagged the ball at the top of the wall, keeping it in the park. And he wasn’t finished.
After he landed, Judge threw a strike to second base, where Gleyber Torres was waiting for the cutoff throw. Nationals outfielder James Wood had taken off from first base, anticipating Chapparo’s ball to leave the park or land for a hit, and he didn’t get back to first on time.
Torres threw him out at first to complete the inning-ending double play started by Judge’s home-run-saving heroics.
A camera angle from behind the wall confirmed that the ball indeed would’ve left the park if not for Judge’s defensive gem.
The play kept the Yankees’ 2-0 lead intact, and they went on to secure a 5-2 win.
On Sunday, Judge hit his 50th and 51st home runs of the season in a win over the Colorado Rockies. He now has 10 more home runs than MLB’s second-leading home-run hitter, Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter and NL MVP favorite Shohei Ohtani. Judge has surpassed the 50-home-run plateau for the third time in his nine-season MLB career.
With 30 games remaining on the Yankees’ schedule, Judge is threatening to break his own AL single-season home run record of 62, set two seasons ago.
That he’s making plays such as this in the outfield as well just isn’t fair.