We all know he can do it with his racket.
The glove work is pretty good too.
During his winning streak at the plate, with which he is once again putting home run records in danger, Aaron Judge showed one of the best defensive moves of the season on Monday night 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 from Nestor Cortes that was headed toward the left-center field bleachers. Judge had other plans.
The Yankees center fielder tracked the ball to the warning track and timed his jump perfectly. He grabbed the ball at the top of the wall and kept it in the park. And he wasn’t done yet.
After he landed, Judge threw a strike to second base, where Gleyber Torres was waiting for the cutoff throw. Nationals outfielder James Wood had run from first base, expecting Chapparo’s ball to leave the park or land for a hit. He didn’t get back to first base in time.
Torres threw him out at first base to complete the inning-ending double play that had been initiated by Judge’s heroic effort to save a home run.
A camera shot behind the wall confirms that without Judge’s defensive masterpiece, the ball would have actually left the field.
The play preserved the Yankees’ shutout and they left the inning with a 2-0 lead.
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 favorite to win NL MVP Shohei Ohtani. He surpassed the 50-home run mark for the third time in his nine-year MLB career.
With 30 games left on the Yankees’ schedule, Judge is now threatening to break his own AL record of 62 home runs in a season, which he set two seasons ago.
It’s just not fair that he makes plays like that in the outfield.
