Sure, ASG is fun, but Judge has title in mind

It was the sweaty-hot summer of 2017. As Aaron Judge stood in a cramped room adjacent to the Marlins Park visitors’ clubhouse, the young Yankees slugger had officially arrived on the Major League Baseball scene.

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His chest was still heaving from a jaw-dropping Home Run Derby performance in which he slugged 47 homers – 3.9 miles of them, enough to reach Miami’s Biscayne Bay if combined from home plate. Judge grinned widely and exhibited the “aw shucks” persona that would win over a national audience.

"I had no pressure going into it. I'm a rookie," Judge said that night. "For me, I've got no expectations. I'm just going to go in there and have some fun and see what we can do tonight. It was a blast. I enjoyed every minute of it.”

The sky seemed to be the limit for Judge and the rest of the “Baby Bombers,” who would steam into the postseason ahead of schedule, only for their year to end in Game 7 heartbreak in Houston. That playoff exit and those that followed sliced deep for Judge, changing the course of his career and those of his teammates.

Still one of the game’s brightest stars, as Commissioner Rob Manfred predicted he would become that during sun-splashed week in Miami, Judge no longer exudes the wide-eyed “just happy to be here” vibe he did in 2017. These days, Judge seems to be singularly focused on celebrating a Yankees World Series championship with the present group.

“Every year, I put my heart and soul into this game, into my teammates, into this city and into this organization,” Judge said. “That's why every year it hurts when we lose. I feel like I let the city down. I feel like I let my teammates down. Those cuts are deep, but those are just scars. I’ve got scars all over me -- past losses and past experiences. But all it's doing is making us stronger.”

Ace Gerrit Cole is representing the Yankees in Denver this week, along with Judge and closer Aroldis Chapman. Having faced Judge numerous times over the years, Cole said that outside the lines, the hulking He-Man has turned out to be precisely what he expected.

“It's one thing to hear about, and it's another thing to see it on a daily basis -- always trying to pour into the other guys,” Cole said. “He’s making sure whatever he can do to help us be more prepared, to help us be more confident, to help us play together more. He’s going through a lot with his preparation and his own routine to get himself ready to play at the level that he expects. It was a large expectation to live up to, and he certainly fits the bill.”

In some ways, Judge continues to chase the magic of his rookie season, a year that began with such anonymity that he was able to visit New York’s Bryant Park and interview Yankees fans about himself for a sketch that aired on NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” disguised only by a pair of Clark Kent frames.

By that October, Judge couldn’t walk a city block without being stopped for an autograph or a selfie. Named the unanimous American League Rookie of the Year, Judge finished second to the Astros’ Jose Altuve in the AL MVP vote. Judge paced the AL in runs (128), homers (52), walks (127) and strikeouts (208) that year, earning a Silver Slugger Award. The secret was out.

When healthy, Judge has approached that otherworldly performance, building a robust 150 OPS+ through his first five-plus big league seasons. But injuries limited Judge to 242 of a possible 384 regular season games (63%) from 2018-20, which has made his 2021 performance so special.

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Judge earned his ticket to Denver based upon his reliability, standing tall as the Yankees’ most productive hitter in a season that has been marked by overall inconsistency. Judge is the first Yankee to belt 20 homers with 46 or more RBIs and a .900 or greater OPS in the first half since … well, Aaron Judge, who reached those marks in ’17 and ’18.

As the 2021 All-Star fun begins in Denver, it is easy to imagine Judge flashing his megawatt smile with new friends in the AL dugout, patrolling the outfield with aplomb and maybe delighting the crowd with a mile-high blast or two. But make no mistake -- for Judge, this All-Star Game is just a respite before a second-half push toward unfinished business.

“It’s all going to make it sweeter in the end,” Judge said. “It's a journey; it's a process of going through the ups and downs. That's what I love to do. And that's what's going to make the ultimate prize of bringing a championship back so much sweeter.”