World Series: Rob Thomson, Kevin Long remember Aaron Judge's noisy first impression

HOUSTON — Phillies manager Rob Thomson has an Aaron Judge story that instantly comes to mind for him, as it does for pretty much everyone who was a part of the Yankees when the outfielder was drafted in 2013.

“In Oakland,” Thomson told Newsday on Saturday, his mouth breaking into a slight grin, a few hours before the Phillies tried to take a two-games-to-none lead over the Astros in the World Series.

 The date was June 11, 2013. It was about a week after the Yankees selected Judge 32nd overall in the 2013 draft, and they brought the native of nearby Linden, California, to the Oakland Coliseum. He took batting practice with the Yankees, managed at the time by Joe Girardi, with Thomson on staff as the third-base coach.  

“How big he was and how quiet he was,” Thomson said of what he remembers most about that afternoon. “So respectful. He kind of didn’t want to get in the way. And then once he got the bat in his hands, it was a whole different story. Then it really got loud. You know what I mean?”

Thomson’s current hitting coach with the Phillies, Kevin Long, who served in the same capacity on Girardi’s 2013 Yankees staff, knows exactly what Thomson means.

“I’ll tell you what Vernon Wells said, and this pretty much summed it up,” Long said. “Vernon was at the end of his career and he was with us [in 2013] and he saw Aaron take batting practice and he looked at me straight-faced and said, ‘It’s probably time for me to retire.’ That’s how impressive Aaron Judge was. He was crushing balls. And making that stadium, which at the time played really, really big, just made it look small. I remember it vividly.”

Long was fired by the Yankees after the 2014 season and didn’t get to see much of Judge, who debuted in August 2016.

 “I loved his swing,'' he said. "Just a simple swing, didn’t have a whole lot of movement. I never did get a chance to work with him, but the talent was there. You knew it was going to be special at some point and obviously it has been.”

Thomson, who joined the Phillies in December 2017 after interviewing for the managerial  job that went to Aaron Boone after Girardi was let go, had spent 28 years with the Yankees, including the last 10 as a member of the big-league coaching staff.

The Judge-Derek Jeter comparisons that have consistently made the rounds since the former’s AL Rookie of the Year season in 2017 sometimes miss the mark. The pair are cut from the same mold in some respects and are very different in others, but Thomson has more standing than most to make those comparisons. He worked in the Yankees' organization for the entirety of Jeter’s professional career, including working in the minors when the shortstop started in rookie ball in the Gulf Coast League in 1992.

“He’s like Jeter in a lot of ways,” Thomson said of Judge. “When we had Jeter when he was like 19 years old, his respect for fans, the organization, the other teams, the umpires, the media, never changed until he retired. It never changed. And I see Judge being the same way. Just his level of respect for other people is through the roof.”

Judge to this day has similarly warm feelings for the 59-year-old Thomson, given the forever nickname “Topper” by Joe Torre because the Hall of Fame manager felt Thomson was on top of everything.

“It’s about time,” Judge said matter-of-factly of Thomson at last getting a shot to manage. “Took long enough.”

He added: “Great guy and so knowledgeable. He helped me so much I can’t even describe.”  

Phillies players have been delivering similar plaudits since Thomson took over, which continued after their manager pressed all the right buttons in Philadelphia’s 6-5 victory in Game 1, a game in which the Phils trailed 5-0 after three innings.

“I trust anything that man does,”  rightfielder Nick Castellanos said after Game 1.

Thomson ran away from that, saying: ''I'm not really doing the work. The players are doing the work. I'm just sort of making the final decision on who goes where.”

There was similar self-effacement when Judge’s comments were relayed to him by Newsday.

What help did he give Judge? “I have no idea,” Thomson said. “There’s nothing that really sticks out in my mind, to tell you the truth.”

Which doesn’t mean Thomson wasn’t touched by the remarks.

“It makes me feel really good,” he said. “Because he’s a superstar. A superstar player and a superstar human being . . . I just completely love the kid, I really do. The man, now.” 

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.