"People took it the wrong way" - When Jakob Junis recalled getting death threats after injuring Aaron Judge with wild pitch
In 2018, Jakob Junis had to go through a hard time due to his unintentional action involving Aaron Judge. In a match between the Kansas City Royals and New York Yankees, Junis pitched a fastball that hit Judge on his right arm.
The star player broke his wrist owing to Junis’ wild 93 mph fastball. The incident made fans furious then and some even took to Twitter (X now) to target Jakob Junis.
"Oh, man. I got a bunch of them," said Junis then to the Athletic regarding the furious tweets. "I wasn’t expecting it. But once it started happening, I was like: ‘Man, this is kind of crazy how many people are messaging me.’"
Junis also said Yankees fans had mistaken the incident as they thought he pitched the fastball intentionally.
"I think a lot of people took it the wrong way. They think that I hit him on purpose, which was absolutely not the case. So, I think they were very upset, thinking that I did it intentionally. But it’s part of it, I guess."
Junis didn’t publicly apologize to Judge at that time because he didn’t realize that his injury was so severe.
“It sucks,” Junis said later in an interview in 2018 about the injury. “I’m sorry about that.”
Some users on X threatened Junis' family, and some even threatened him by saying that he would not make it out of the Bronx alive.
Aaron Judge is a legendary player and is loved by all the Yankees fans, but the fastball that hit him in 2018 was unintentional from Junis' side.
Aaron Judge's Status Uncertain for Opening Day
Five-time All-Star Aaron Judge is questionable to play in the opening match on March 28. He was dealing with an abdominal injury and recently had an MRI.
Although all the results were good, the All-Star is still unsure about playing on the opening day and wants to give it a thought before making the decision.
“We ran tests. Everything comes back good,” said Judge on Tuesday, a day after the MRI. “A little banged up. The most important thing is opening day, and I rather take some days now and be smart about it.”
Aaron Judge focuses on being fully healthy for the season opening while maintaining hope. As they ready for their opening game, the Yankees will keep a close eye on him.