BALTIMORE – If there were a higher league to hit in, Aaron Judge would belong there.
The Yankees’ captain put the finishing touches on a sensational first month-plus on Wednesday evening, homering as part of a three-hit, three-RBI performance, though he was left waiting on deck at the conclusion of a 5-4 loss to the Orioles at Camden Yards.
“I’ve got a job to do every time I step up to the plate,” said Judge, who is hitting a Major League-best .427 with 10 home runs, which is tied for the MLB lead. “You try to block out the past and focus on the situation at hand. I try not to look at that stuff until after the season is over.”
Fine, but we certainly can. It was nearly one calendar year ago -- May 2, 2024, to be exact -- that Judge stood on the same swath of visitors’ clubhouse carpet, peppered with questions about a batting average that rested slightly below the Mendoza line at .197.
Judge expressed confidence that his fortunes would soon turn, remarking as he departed: “I’m going to make a couple of adjustments, and we’ll be right there.”
Did he ever. Tweaking his stance slightly from that point forward, Judge went on to win his second American League Most Valuable Player Award, finishing the season with a .322 batting average, 58 home runs and 144 RBIs. He has carried that into a sizzling opening month of 2025.
“You’ve just got to go up there with confidence, no matter what,” Judge said. “I felt the same even when I was hitting .170 last year. You guys were asking all the questions about, ‘When are you going to turn it around?’ I can’t focus on results; I’ve got to focus on the process and trying to get a job done.
“And if you do that for 500 at-bats, good things are going to happen.”
Delivering on a spring promise to get off to a faster start, Judge concluded April by joining the Mariners’ Cal Raleigh and the D-backs' Eugenio Suárez (10) as the only Major Leaguers to carry double-digits in the home run column so far.
(Judge, we should note, would have gotten there sooner if not for a lost April 20 home run in Tampa.)
Facing left-hander Cade Povich against the backdrop of one of Judge’s favorite hitting environments, there wasn’t much question about his second homer in as many games – a Statcast-projected 426-foot blast toward the center-field batter’s eye that came off Judge’s bat at 112.1 mph.
It was also the Yankees’ 15th first-inning homer of the season; no other team entered play Wednesday with more than 11. The blast extended Judge’s on-base streak to 27 games dating to April 2, the fourth longest of his career.
“He’s kind of like a great three-point shooter; they shoot around 43 percent sometimes for an extended period,” manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s remarkable. I always say we’re running out of superlatives or things to say about it, but what he’s doing – he’s playing a different game.”
The drive added to Judge’s lengthy history of tormenting Baltimore pitching: Judge’s 47 homers against the O’s are his most against any opponent, and his 26 homers as a Camden Yards visitor are the third most behind Alex Rodriguez (34) and David Ortiz (30).
“This guy is unbelievable, man,” said right-hander Carlos Carrasco, who took the loss after permitting four runs in 3 1/3 innings. “You guys know what he can do in this game. He’s been great.”
All four Baltimore runs off Carrasco scored in the second inning. Ryan Mountcastle and Ramón Urías homered off the veteran, who permitted eight hits and owns a 5.90 ERA through seven games (six starts).
Paul Goldschmidt closed the deficit with his second home run of the season in the fifth inning. The home runs by Judge and Goldschmidt gave the Yankees 53 blasts before May 1, which is a franchise record.
Judge made it a one-run game again with his third hit of the night in the seventh, an RBI single through the left side of the infield. But New York went down in order against closer Félix Bautista in the ninth, denying Judge another chance to bat.
“I like my chances when you’ve got Paul Goldschmidt and Trent Grisham, who have been swinging the bat so well this year, in front of me,” Judge said. “All I was thinking was, ‘One of those guys is going to get on and we’re going to make some magic happen.’ We weren’t able to come through, but I want those guys in front of me in a big spot every single time.”