“He was someone I grew to respect” – Mercury News

TORONTO – Even just watching him for a few minutes in spring training in his rookie year, Aaron Boone knew Aaron Judge was special. So when he was appointed manager of the Yankees, Judge was one of the first people he sought.

“I was actually with ESPN in 2017 in spring training,” Boone said before Tuesday night’s game against the Blue Jays. “I was in Tampa, just there to play a day with the Yankees and I remembered I wanted to take him a little bit, so I cared about him and watched how he interacted with people. I watched how he treated people. And then, I have to live that experience. That was how you see it with the fans Or the kids, he’s every day. He’s perfectly consistent with his identity. I remember having a long conversation with him on my first day of spring training in 2018. Before the camp opened. We really came for the first time to meet them on an extended level. We had a long conversation. Just You know and from that point on, he was just someone I grew to respect and appreciate for who he is and how he handles things.”

The judge earned his place in club and field. He went into Tuesday night’s game still looking to hit his 61st home run this season, which would equal 61-year-old Roger Maris’ record in MLS and Yankee in a single season.

The slow player has now made 26 appearances on the boards since hitting #60 a week ago against the Buccaneers. He’s only had two streaks out of more than 30 panel appearances without Homer this season. There was 41 dry plate appearance in August and 30 dry plate appearance in April. This is the second longest match drought of the season for Judge, who has played nine games without Homer this season. He made it to base safely in 13 of 26 board appearances with eight walks.

Judge made it to base in 25 consecutive games, scoring .430/.561/.907 during that streak.

With a hitting average of 314, Judge is still narrowly ahead of Xander Bogaerts (.313) and Luis Arraez (.313). He’s vying to be the first Triple Crown winner since 2012. Judge 128 RBI is 11 more than Jose Ramirez’s 117 for the most in the AL.

Judge has only three eyebrows in 66 at-bats against the Blue Jays this season.

There is less pressure on the judge here at the Rogers Center. With the Blue Jays striving to grab a watershed point, the number of Yankees fans who have traveled here in hopes of seeing history is overtaken. Back in the Bronx last week, the judge would rock every time he went to the plate and the stadium was oddly quiet as every pitch was handed over. Fans groaned every time he didn’t bump into Homer – including when he doubled down. On Monday night, he was booed when he walked, but it was almost normal when he walked out and Blue Jays fans went crazy.

The judge was underestimating the strobe lights on him.

“Well, nothing beats Yankee Stadium,” the judge said. “I know Roger Center here is very noisy and very crowded, but nothing like Yankee Stadium. But it felt like a regular game. Mine. That’s like the last few days.”

Boone wasn’t surprised by how Judge handled this. It has seen him develop into a confident player and leader.

“I’ve seen it grow…Even in 2018, it was an important voice in the room,” Boone said. “Men are looking at him and obviously this year has been in it [Brett Gardner and CC Sabathia] Team leaders are established. But, he even thought that they realized who Aaron was not just as a player, but as a person and that they would hand some kind of team over to him. I’ve seen that develop over the years, and I think this year took on an even bigger voice than last year, the year before.”

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from San Jose News Bulletin https://sjnewsbulletin.com/he-was-someone-i-grew-to-respect-mercury-news/