Spectacular play by Aaron Judge in ALCS Game 1 no surprise to Yankees

HOUSTON — From the time he was called up in August 2016 for his big-league debut, Aaron Judge has talked about his desire to be seen not only as a “complete hitter” but as a complete player.

Ask Judge after any game in which he homers and  produces a stellar defensive play and he’ll say both excited him equally — the defensive play perhaps even more so.

Judge, a Gold Glove finalist in 2017 and 2018, did not homer in the Yankees’ 4-2 loss to the Astros in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series on Wednesday night,  but he did have the highlight play of the night — for either team.

With two runners on and one out in the bottom of the first, Alex Bregman sent a screaming drive toward the gap in right-center. Judge, on a dead sprint at contact, laid out horizontally to make the diving backhand catch,  saving at least one run and likely two.

Judge, as is his wont when it comes to a standout effort on offense or defense, downplayed it. So did his dugout, though not in an unappreciative way. It was more the fact that it’s something that is expected, even though the sight of a limber, athletic 6-7, 282-pound player making those kind of plays will always be a novelty to some.

“Working with him for a few weeks, pretty routine,” said centerfielder Harrison Bader, who had as good a view of the catch as anyone. “He had it the entire way. As soon as the ball was hit, I saw his break on it, I saw the angle he took to it. I knew he was going to catch it the entire way. That’s a tough catch, even more so because of the lights, the way they’re situated in the stadium, not so much the ball itself. But yeah, he’s who he is because of his ability to make plays on all sides of it.”

From his perspective in the dugout, Aaron Boone wasn’t so sure Judge had a chance at the ball off the bat. Like Bader, however, he expressed zero surprise that the play was made.  

“Well, he's a great player, he's a great defender, he's a great rightfielder,” Boone said. “I had a really good view of it . . . I could see him in my periphery like closing on it, and at first [off the bat], I thought, ‘oh, double,’ and then I kind of see him close on it and knowing, ‘man, he's got a chance,’ and he's able to lay out. He's just a really good athlete that takes a lot of pride on that side of the ball. That's nothing new for him.”

Judge seemed almost detached as he spoke of the play but did give credit to one of his teammates.

“Just trying to do my job there,” he said. “Bregman’s a guy that can spray it all around the field. Off the bat, I thought I had a good jump. Kind of lost it in the lights for a second, but I know I have Bader behind me, so if I dive and miss it, I know he’s right there to pick me up. I think just having the confidence that I have in Harrison behind me kind of gave me the freedom to go out and try to make a play.”

Because of a variety of circumstances, Judge actually played in more games in centerfield (78) than in right (73) this season. He acquitted himself quite well in center, not a surprise in that he was drafted by the Yankees in 2013 out of Fresno State as a centerfielder, a position he prefers to this day.   

“The interesting thing about Judge and centerfield is that’s the only position we ever saw him play, and he was good then,” Damon Oppenheimer, the Yankees’ longtime amateur director of domestic scouting, recently told Newsday. “Really saw no reason why he couldn’t play there at an above-average level in the major leagues when we saw him as a kid. His speed was good and his instincts and reads were very good. That and the fact he could really throw with plus accuracy made it no reason to doubt his chances to be an above-average major-league centerfielder.”

Rival scouts, while saying Judge is better overall in right than he is in center because he lacks the speed of the centerfield prototype, nonetheless give him high marks across the board.  

“You never really see bad reads from him, so that definitely helps since he’s not the fastest,” said one opposing AL team  talent evaluator who has seen Judge since his days in the minors. “We had him rated as a plus [defender] in right and above-average in center. That was a great catch [Wednesday night], but it wasn’t [a surprise]. Been seeing it for years.” 

 Judge was not named a Gold Glove finalist on Thursday, but five other Yankees were: catcher Jose Trevino, leftfielder Andrew Benintendi, first baseman Anthony Rizzo, pitcher Jameson Taillon  and DJ LeMahieu in the “utility” category.