This is Aaron Judge’s 10th season in the majors, so he’s played long enough to officially have a Hall of Fame career.
And while he already has a few tokens displayed on loan in Cooperstown — including the bat he used in his MLB debut on Aug. 13, 2016, when he and Tyler Austin became the first players to hit back-to-back homers in their first MLB at-bats, and the jersey he wore when he hit the 44th home run of his record-breaking rookie season on Sept. 18, 2017, as well as the bat he used to hit his record-tying 61st home run in 2022 — Judge has never been there.
“I haven’t,’’ Judge said recently. “I think they’ve got some things of mine. I’ll go at some point, but not right now.”
Aaron Judge reacts during the Yankees’ game against the Royals on April 16.Corey Sipkin for the NY Post
Asked if he was waiting for an invitation, Judge smiled and said, “Maybe when I’m done playing.”
In the meantime, Judge is in the midst of the best start of his career.
He’ll bring an incredible .415 average into Friday’s series opener against Toronto in The Bronx, as well as an on-base percentage of .513 and slugging percentage of .734.
Those all lead the majors, as does his OPS of 1.247.
All of that, and he has “just” seven homers, with his 6.2 home run percentage his lowest since 2021.
For a player known for slow starts, Judge has seemingly erased all holes in his offensive game this year.
His strikeout rate of 20.4 is by far the lowest of his career and — incredibly — he’s walking at a lower rate than usual. Perhaps teams will pitch to him more carefully at some point.
Judge is also hitting the ball up the middle more than ever before.
Aaron Judge homers during the Yankees’ game against the Royals on April 16.Corey Sipkin for the NY Post
“We’ve seen how not having Judge behind him has [impacted Juan] Soto,’’ one American League scout said. “But it doesn’t seem to matter who’s in the lineup for Judge. He keeps getting better and smarter.”
Carlos Rodón has noticed the same thing.
“You can just tell how he’s grown as a hitter,’’ the left-hander said. “I don’t know how many at-bats he’s had in his career, [but] the more at-bats he gets, the better he gets. He just keeps getting better every year.’’
And when the torpedo bat took the baseball world by storm when several Yankees hit well to open the season against the Brewers, Judge practically laughed off the notion that he might try it.
Instead, he’s using the same 35-inch, 33-ounce model he’s used since he got to the pros.
He wanted to use a similar model at Fresno State, but he said the metal bats only came in 34-inch, 32-ounce models.
“We asked them to make something else and told them, ‘We’ve got a 6-foot-7 outfielder here, he needs something bigger,’ ” Judge said. “They should have listened.”
He’s using a version of the bat with a cupped ending, which Judge said gives him more balance in his
Aaron Judge rounds the bases after homering during the Yankees’ game against the Royals on April 16.Corey Sipkin for the NY Post
Aaron Judge connects on a single during the Yankees’ game against the Royals on April 14.Charles Wenzelberg
He also still has models without the cup and that’s the one Oswaldo Cabrera picked up in a batting cage last year at the suggestion of hitting coach Pat Roessler.
“He saw one in the cage and told me to use it,’’ Cabrera said of Roessler. “I liked it so I went to Aaron and asked if it was OK if I used it in a game.”
Cabrera typically uses a 34-inch, 32-ounce bat, but occasionally likes the heft of Judge’s version.
“It’s huge and when I use it, I don’t think much of my mechanics,’’ Cabrera said. “I’m just thinking of getting the barrel in front. That’s the challenge. It just feels so different.”
Once Cabrera began using it occasionally, Judge said he ordered a dozen more for the infielder.
The bat, obviously, hasn’t turned Cabrera into Judge, but Cabrera has been off to a fairly solid start, hitting .262 with a .666 OPS — up from his career mark of .644.
Judge, though, is off to a start for the ages.
If he keeps it up, he may have more reasons to head to Cooperstown at some point.
Trent Grisham was reinstated from the paternity list Thursday and will be back on the roster Friday. Jorbit Vivas was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after Thursday’s win in Detroit.
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