Yankees rookie Aaron Judge is presently the major-league leader in home runs, and a good number of those home runs have been of the jaw-dropping variety. Judge's absurd power in tandem with his towering physical stature would seem to make him an ideal fit for the 2017 Home Run Derby, which goes down on July 10 at Marlins Park. Well, that's apparently not lost on the Derby decision-makers. Here's this from the AP's Ronald Blum ...
Yankees rookie sensation Aaron Judge says he has been invited to participate in next month's Home Run Derby.
The 25-year-old Judge, who leads the major leagues with 23 home runs, said he received the invitation last week through his agent.
Asked Tuesday whether he will accept, Judge says: "I haven't really thought about it yet."
Well, the lack of an immediate "yes" is a bit disappointing, but maybe he'll come around. Judge will almost certainly already be in Miami at the time, since he's the AL's leading All-Star vote-getter. Defending Derby champ Giancarlo Stanton will presumably defend his title in front of the home crowd, and the idea of those two behemoths going at it is tantalizing in the extreme. Please, Aaron, do it for the people.
On the season, the 25-year-old Judge is batting .335/.445/.699 with 23 home runs in 65 games, which means you can consider him an early candidate for AL MVP honors.
