The ‘Aaron Judge Debate’

If you’ve been hiding under the last rock Aaron Judge hasn’t demolished with a homerun, let me introduce you to the newest Bomber in the Bronx and AL homerun leader Aaron Judge.  Judge has burst onto the MLB scene and catapulted the Yankees out of their rebuild and into the AL East race of which they have been absent for the last few years.  Judge has the build a of an NFL defensive end at 6 foot 7 inches and weighing 285 which has helped at establishing him as the top power hitter in the AL with 27 dingers.  One look at Judge will tell you he could knock a blimp out of the sky with the long ball but Judge can hit for contact as well, he’s currently hitting .331.

Judges’ quick rise and squeaky clean image has started a bit of an odd conversation in Red Sox nation.  With the embers of a long dormant rivalry just starting to be stoked again and sox fans finally being comfortable saying that they never really hated Jeter or Rivera.  Two camps have emerged around Judge, the first camp is the sox traditionalist camp whose general point is “Fuck that guy!  He’s a Yankee, who gives a shit if he’s good” and the more liberal modern fan “He’s a class act kinda guy and a fun player to watch, He’s hard to hate”.  Judge is an impressive player and power hitters are always fun to watch, yet every sox fan can easily picture a scene where Aaron Judge rips out our hearts in October to the roar of the world’s most obnoxious fan base.  It really doesn’t help that that day seems to be coming sooner rather than later as the Sox and Yankees seem to be on a collision course for the division.

For Sox fans watching Judge wear pinstripes is like watching your neighbor drive around in a brand new 2017 Audi R8 and being told that one day he’s going to run you over with it.  On the one hand, being hit by a car sucks, but damn what a nice looking car.

Written by Jason MacKinnon (@oohkillemjason)