KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Aaron Judge’s price tag may be going up.
The Yankees slugger’s torrid stretch continued Sunday afternoon, when he hit two more homers in a 6-4 victory over the Royals.
In their ninth straight win, Judge got the Yankees going with a mammoth 453-foot homer in the top of the first off the scoreboard above the wall in dead center at Kauffman Stadium.
The shot, which measured at 114 mph, according to Statcast, landed well above the wall in center.
“It’s tough to hit a ball more pure than that,” Aaron Boone said.
“He’s a monster,” Luis Severino said. “Not many people can go to center field and hit it off the scoreboard.”
Asked about the homer, Judge said with a smile, “I have to pick my days at Kauffman [Stadium]. The wind’s got to be blowing out.”
He also provided an insurance run with an opposite-field home run in the ninth.
Judge has homered in each of the past three games he’s played and he has five home runs in his last five games, as well as seven in his last eight.
“Those are just results,’’ Judge said. “I’m focused on the process and what I’ve got to do.”
Judge also delivered with the bases loaded and no one out in the seventh. A check-swing grounder — measured by Statcast at just 21.7 mph — was good enough to score Isiah Kiner-Falefa to tie the game.
He’s now up to eight homers on the year and his OPS has jumped from .733 to 1.027 since April 19.
It all comes after Judge turned down a seven-year, $213.5 million extension during spring training and can become a free agent following the season.
Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge (99) watches his 453-foot home run then celebrates with Anthony Rizzo on May 1, 2022. Getty Images (2)The $30.5 AAV was slightly above what Mookie Betts of the Dodgers is due in his 12-year, $365 million deal with the Dodgers and trailing only Mike Trout’s $35.54 million AAV in his 12-year, $426.5 million contract with the Angels — the highest all time for an outfielder.
Judge put an Opening Day deadline on negotiations for an extension and the two sides still have to meet for an arbitration hearing during the regular season due to the MLB lockout. Judge is seeking $21 million for this season, while the Yankees offered $17 million.
“Obviously our intent is to have Aaron Judge stay as a New York Yankee moving forward and I know that’s his intent as well, which is a good thing,” general manager Brian Cashman said on Opening Day, after the two sides failed to come up with a deal. “We’re going to have to be entering those efforts in a new arena, which would be at the end of the season when free agency starts. Maybe that will determine what his real market value will be, because we certainly couldn’t agree at this stage on a contract extension.”
That market could be heating up.
