Aaron Judge Is on Pace for 162 Home Runs

One blink, and you could have missed the calendar change. The 2023 baseball season began a lot like the last one ended, at least for the Yankees. There was an autumnal chill in the air more appropriate to October than March. In his first time up at bat, Aaron Judge, the newly minted team captain whom the Yankees paid a mint to retain, drove a ball over the center field fence. The home run was an early return on the Yankees’ $360 million investment, and a reminder that as long as he stays healthy, Mr. Judge is as good as it gets at the plate. After 62 dingers last season — an American League record — the slugger appears set to pick up where he left off. That is good news for the Yankees, and poor tidings for pitchers across baseball. The maiden game of this campaign — a 5-0 win for the Bombers over the San Francisco Giants — featured a host of promising signs for the Pinstripers. In addition to Mr. Judge’s blast, he knocked in another run with a bloop single. The pitcher Gerrit Cole, the ace of the staff, twirled six innings, allowing only three hits and racking up 11 strikeouts. The bullpen completed the blanking. The designated hitter, Gleyber Torres, who has struggled to match the immensity of his potential to the reality of his production, socked a home run. The second baseman, D.J. LeMahieu, who enjoyed a stellar first year in the Bronx and a lackluster and injury-marred second one last year, poked a single to score a run.While the Yankees’ veterans did the heavy lifting during the Thursday matinee, youth shone as well, in the person of the shortstop, Anthony Volpe. Just 21 years old, Mr. Volpe hails from Watchung, New Jersey, an hour’s drive from Yankee Stadium. He grew up rooting for the team, and now embodies its future. Mr. Volpe, whom MLB.com rates as the fifth best prospect in all of baseball, worked a walk and stole a base, suggesting that he could inject needed dynamism into an offense that too often last season stagnated into a station-to-station enterprise. He acquitted himself well with the glove, too. He looks like a big leaguer. Speaking of speed; the contest clocked in at a brisk 2 hours and 33 minutes, a full 40 minutes shorter than last year’s league-wide average. Credit appears due to the implementation of the pitch clock, whose countdown is meant to ensure pitchers hurl on time and to keep batters in the box. A sample size of one game suggests that the season will fly by.

Aaron Judge Is on Pace for 162 Home Runs

Aaron Judge Is on Pace for 162 Home Runs

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