Aaron Judge’s Mysterious Glances During At-Bat Puzzles Broadcasters
Yankees slugger Aaron Judge typically draws big reactions from announcers with his towering home runs. But a few pitches before his 462-foot blast during the eighth inning of Monday’s game against the Blue Jays—his second of the night—he had the Toronto broadcast team downright puzzled with some curious eye movement while in the batter’s box.
As Judge took pitches from Blue Jays reliever Jay Jackson, announcers Dan Shulman and Buck Martinez noticed the reigning American League MVP’s eyes dart off to the side just before Jackson’s delivery. They were in the midst of speculating on what Judge could have been looking at when the reigning home run champ launched a moonshot to center field to give the Yankees a 7–0 lead.
In the wake of MLB’s sign-stealing crackdown, those around baseball are as hyper-aware as ever of any behavior that might be perceived as players trying to get a leg up. Shulman speculated that Judge might have been trying to look back at Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk to get an idea of what pitch was coming, though Martinez thought that was unlikely given that Judge never turned his head and didn’t seem to be aiming his eyes downward.
After the game, Judge was asked about his looks, and said that he was looking toward the Yankees dugout because he heard some teammates yelling toward the umpire that he didn’t approve of.
