Aaron Judge is befuddled by comparisons with Derek Jeter: "I’m always confused when people are like, ‘Oh, you’re like Jeter, you’re like this guy'"
Aaron Judge seems confused whenever he is compared to another Yankees legend. He says he has never tried to mimic anyone and has been his natural self whenever he has held the bat at home plate.
Aaron Judge has become a New York favorite. He has proven his caliber through the numerous individual records he has produced in his seasons with the Yankees. The 2022 season has been ground-breaking for Judge as he went on to hit 62 home runs. He reached new levels of greatness and fan following on his way to winning the American League MVP.
However, for most of his career, the 30-year-old has been compared in size and stature to other Yankees legends. There has been a close comparison to the likes of Derek Jeter, who himself was a power hitter like Judge. Judge spoke about this comparison to TIME magazine, where he said:
“Ultimately, if you’re artificial, time will expose you,” Jeter tells TIME. You can’t fake out New Yorkers. You either mean it or you don’t, and it appears to me that he means it. I’m always confused when people are like, ‘Oh, you’re like Jeter, you’re like this guy,’" Judge says. “I try not to be. I just try to be who I am”.
Aaron Judge also believes that the New Yorkers made him feel at home. After returning to the city having hit his 62nd home run, he was wowed to see the scores of fans gathered outside his building to celebrate his success.
“I never noticed the crowd until they stopped cheering, which was one of the craziest things in my career. “That’s when I started to kind of realize, ‘Oh boy, there’s something special going on here,'" said Judge.
Aaron Judge says he his happy his performances have impacted baseball
The AL MVP also acknowledged that he was happy that his performances were impacting plenty of people worldwide. Speaking about various channels cutting off college football streams to show Yankees games as he approached the magic 62nd record-breaking mark, he said:
"That’s really good for the game, when you cut into football, you’re hitting people that you might not otherwise get to.”
Aaron Judge chose to go into free agency at the end of the 2022 season. He had initially rejected a seven-year contract with the Yankees worth $213.5 million at the start of the season. However, there have been recent reports that suggest that Judge will be staying in New York for a whopping $360 million, nine-year contract.