Aaron Judge

Aaron Judge (born April 26, 1992) is a professional baseball player for the New York Yankees (2016– ) who in 2022 set the American League record for the most home runs hit in a season. His 62 home runs broke the 61-year-old record held by former Yankee Roger Maris. In December 2022, he agreed to a nine-year, $360 million contract to stay with the New York Yankees.

Childhood and early career

Judge was adopted the day after his birth by teachers Patty and Wayne Judge, and he grew up in Linden, California. Aaron Judge—who stands 6 feet 7 inches (2.01 meters) tall, weighs 282 pounds (128 kg), and is biracial—was about 10 or 11 years old when he realized that he didn’t look much like his parents and began to ask questions. His elder brother, John Judge, had also been adopted.

Of his adoptive mother Aaron Judge said, “Some kids grow in their mom’s stomach; I grew in my mom’s heart. She’s always showed me love and compassion ever since I was a little baby. I’ve never needed to think differently or wonder about anything.’’

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In high school Judge played football, basketball, and baseball. Some universities recruited him to play football and baseball, and others, including Notre Dame and Stanford, recruited him to play football. Judge, however, decided he wanted to play baseball exclusively.

In 2010, when he was 18 years old, Judge was selected in the Major League Baseball (MLB) amateur draft by the Oakland A’s. By that time, however, he had received a scholarship to play baseball at California State University, Fresno (Fresno State), his parents’ alma mater, and he was influenced by them to continue his education. He played for the Fresno State Bulldogs from 2011 through 2013 before being chosen by the New York Yankees in the first round of the 2013 draft.

Judge played in the minor leagues for various Yankees affiliates in the 2014, 2015, and 2016 seasons before making his major-league debut, on August 13, 2016, in a game against the Tampa Bay Rays, playing in right field. In his first major-league at bat, Judge hit a home run. He also hit a home run in his second game for the Yankees. But the rest of that debut season was less auspicious: he batted .179, struck out 42 times in 84 at bats, and ended the season with an oblique muscle strain.

Judge’s rookie season

Judge’s first full season in major-league ball, in 2017, was memorable in the extreme. Among other accomplishments, he:

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• hit 10 home runs in April, winning the honor of American League Rookie of the Month. He would win it again in May, with another 7 home runs, and again in June and September.
• broke Joe DiMaggio’s record for most home runs by a Yankee rookie when he hit his 30th on July 7.
• won the Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game, becoming the first rookie to do so.
• ended the season with 52 homers, leading the American League and setting a record for rookies. He hit 33 of them at Yankee Stadium, breaking Babe Ruth’s record for most home runs hit by a Yankee at home.
• was named the American League Rookie of the Year by a unanimous vote.

Judge’s 2018 and 2019 seasons were shortened by injuries, including a broken wrist bone after being hit by a pitch and another oblique strain, but he still managed to hit 27 home runs in each season. The 2020 season, which was shortened to 60 games because of the COVID-19 pandemic, saw him spending further time on the injured list, with rib and calf injuries. He returned to form in 2021, hitting 39 home runs in the 148 games he appeared in.

The 2022 season

Before the start of the 2022 season, Judge and the Yankees could not agree on a long-term contract for the 30-year-old player. He turned down a seven-year contract that would have paid him more than $213 million. Instead, he signed a one-year, $19 million contract, betting on himself that he could get a better deal in free agency. The agreement he reached with the Yankees in December 2022 was the largest free-agent signing in MLB history.

Judge spent the season hitting home runs at such a torrid pace that discussion that he might eclipse the Maris record dominated the second half of the season. On September 7 he hit his 55th home run, leaving him 6 behind Maris, with almost a full month left in the season. On September 20 Judge joined Ruth and Maris as the only American League players to have hit 60 home runs in a season. On September 28 he hit his 61st, tying Maris. Six days later, with only two games left in the regular season, Judge hit his 62nd home run, setting a new single-season record for home runs in the American League. (The MLB home-run record is held by Barry Bonds, who hit 73 in 2001. However, that record is controversial because of allegations that Bonds used performance-enhancing drugs. See Researcher’s Note: Baseball’s problematic single-season home run record.)

After the game, Judge called hitting the record-breaking homer “a big relief.” He admitted to feeling pressure to break the record but said, “I tried to take it one day at a time and say a little prayer.” As a result of his historic season, Judge was named the American League’s Most Valuable Player for 2022.

Continued success on the Yankees

Judge was again limited by injuries in the 2023 season, although he still managed to hit 37 home runs in 106 games. He had a banner year in 2024, leading MLB in home runs (58), RBIs (144), and walks (133). In the postseason, the Yankees advanced to the World Series for the first time since 2009, where Judge faced fellow slugger Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Personality and charity work

Judge’s size and humility have led baseball writers to compare him favorably to both Ruth and Maris. Judge, whose nickname is “All Rise,” created a foundation by that name to help give “youth the tools to reach their dreams.”