Sophomore slump? Not for this guy! Aaron Judge is proving that he isn’t ready for any type of a second-year fall-off as he is once again starting the season with a bang. Judge is picking up right where he left off in 2017 by terrorizing the opponents' pitching staff and hitting moonshot home runs and on Monday night the 26-year old set a record in front of the hometown fans in the Bronx.
Judge on record pace
The baseball world saw a very small dose of Aaron Judge for the first time in 2016, and while expectations were high, not many guessed that he would blossom into a modern day Mickey Mantle.
According to an MLB.com report, Judge set a Major League record on Monday by cracking the 60th home run of his career in his 197th game played, becoming the fastest player in baseball history to reach the mark. Judge’s record-setting round-tripper came in the bottom of the second inning off of Marlins left-hander Caleb Smith. At the time it gave the Bombers a 3-0 lead. The 6' 7" Judge is hitting .340 in the early season and already leads the league in base-on-balls with 12. Last season Judge was walked 127 times, which led all of baseball.
The Yankees as a team are off to a bit of a slow start as they currently sit at 7-7 on the season, 5.5 games behind the first place Boston Red Sox.
Pirates suffer a key loss with Harrison injury
The Pittsburgh Pirates are off to a great start in 2018, and Josh Harrison is a big reason why. Now the Pirates are going to see what it will be like to play without their star second baseman and leadoff hitter.
PiratesBreakdown.com has revealed that Harrison was diagnosed on Monday with a fractured fifth metacarpal in his left hand.
Ironically it is the same injury that ended his 2017 season five weeks early. Harrison suffered the injury when he was hit by a pitch on Sunday afternoon in Miami.
Pittsburgh’s manager Clint Hurdle said he is confident that his team will pick up the slack in Harrison’s absence, but don’t kid yourself, he will be missed.
"The men in the locker room have been through this before, whether it be here or other places.
It's part of the game … Things happen. It challenges your depth and it gives somebody else an opportunity to step forward.”
The Pirates are off to an 11-4 start to the season, which is one of their bests in years. With Harrison on the shelf, Adam Frazier and Sean Rodriguez will spend equal time filling in at second base. Even if Harrison heals quickly, he most likely won't return until June.