9 years of Aaron Judge: How his debut changed the course of Yankees history

Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News on Aug 13, 2025

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

NEW YORK — Nine years ago, the Yankees were in a period of transition.

They had just bid farewell to Alex Rodriguez, giving him a Yankee Stadium sendoff on Aug. 12, 2016, in what proved to be his final MLB game.

The next day, the Yankees called up a pair of promising prospects for an extended look over the final seven weeks of a playoff-less season.

Among them was Aaron Judge.

Wednesday marked the ninth anniversary of Judge’s MLB debut. In a sign of things to come, Judge homered in his first at-bat, sending an 87-mph change-up from Tampa Bay’s Matt Andriese over the center-field wall at Yankee Stadium.

Judge’s 446-foot home run immediately followed a solo homer by Tyler Austin, the other prospect making his debut that day. They became the first teammates to hit back-to-back homers in their first-ever plate appearances in MLB history.

“What a day,” Judge said after that game, an 8-4 win by the Yankees. “That’s all I can really say.”

In the nine years since, Judge has established himself as baseball’s preeminent slugger.

Judge’s 353 home runs to begin Wednesday were 43 more than anyone else’s since his debut on Aug. 13, 2016. Only five other players were within 100 of Judge’s total.

His 58.6 wins above replacement (WAR) were also the most in baseball, towering over José Ramírez’s 51.4, which ranked second, according to FanGraphs.

Judge’s 62 home runs in 2022 remain an American League single-season record. He won American League MVP that year, and then again last season when he hit 58 home runs and set career highs in RBIs (144), on-base percentage (.458), slugging percentage (.701) and OPS (1.159).

Judge was the fastest in MLB history to hit 300 career home runs, needing only 3,431 at-bats and 955 games to reach that milestone last year.

He moved into sixth place on the Yankees’ all-time home run leaderboard last month when he passed Rodriguez (351). Judge could soon pass Yogi Berra (358) for the fifth-most homers in the Yankees’ 123-year history.

Also within striking distance this season is Joe DiMaggio, whose 361 home runs rank fourth in team history.

Babe Ruth (659), Mickey Mantle (536) and Lou Gehrig (493) top the Yankees’ home run leaderboard.

“We’re watching greatness,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of Judge last August. “You try not to take that for granted, what you’re seeing [No.] 99 do. For a few years, you hear a lot of the Babe, Mantle, Gehrig, DiMaggio, those kinds of names intertwined with a lot of things he’s doing, so try to appreciate every now and then what we have.”

It all started in 2013 when the Yankees drafted Judge with the No. 32 overall pick out of Fresno State. Judge was one of three first-round picks that year by the Yankees, who selected third baseman Eric Jagielo with the No. 26 pick and left-hander Ian Clarkin with No. 33.

“[Judge] sticks out just about anywhere you stick him,” Damon Oppenheimer, the Yankees’ vice president of domestic amateur scouting, said last month, reflecting on that 2013 draft.

“Everybody would like to say, ‘You screwed up. You should have taken Judge first.’ But old-school scouting, information and relationships with Jim Hendry and guys like that [who] worked for me, that know people, knew you didn’t have to take Aaron at that point, so it made it nice for us. But he definitely stands out. He stands out in the history of all our drafts.”

Judge, 33, won 2017 American League Rookie of the Year, earned his seventh All-Star selection this year and has been the Yankees’ captain since December of 2022.

The Yankees made the playoffs in seven of Judge’s first eight full seasons, and he made his first trip to the World Series last year, but a championship has eluded him to this point. Don Mattingly is widely considered the greatest Yankee to never win a title.

Judge is in the midst of another MVP-caliber season, entering Wednesday as MLB’s leader in average (.337), on-base percentage (.448), slugging percentage (.693) and OPS (1.141).

He hit his 38th home run in Tuesday night’s 9-1 win over the Minnesota Twins — his first since returning from a 10-day stint on the injured list for a flexor strain in his right elbow.

Since coming off of the IL on Aug. 5, Judge has played exclusively as the Yankees’ designated hitter, but he could return to right field this weekend in St. Louis.

“I’m feeling good,” Judge said. “Ten days off of no throwing is a little weird, and then trying to ramp it back up, but we’re feeling good. We’re progressing. It’s all in what the trainers say, so hopefully we can get back out there soon.”