Aaron Judge is the top vote-getter in the All-Star balloting so far and, obviously, he and his moonshot home runs are the biggest story of the first half of the season. Not surprisingly, then, he was extended an invitation to the Home Run Derby.
Will he do it? He’s not sure:
“Haven’t decided yet. I’ll think about it for a while and see what we do . . . Just more focused on what I can do for the team right now.”
He’s probably wanting to get the OK from Yankees brass, seeing as how some teams have had kind of an uneasy feeling about their sluggers participating in the past. There’s a notion out there, less so now than there used to be, that participating in the Home Run Derby messes up power hitters. That’s generally been debunked, but it still holds to some degree.
I suspect Judge will participate, especially seeing as though he’ll be down in Miami for the All-Star Game itself. If so, we should expect a show. His power is prodigious and his BP homers are McGwire-eseque. He’ll probably put on a tremendous show.