page_title: Aaron Judge
section_title: 2016
hierarchical_section_title: Aaron Judge / Professional career / New York Yankees / 2016
caption_attribution_description: Aaron Judge
context_page_description: Aaron James Judge is an American professional baseball outfielder for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball. Judge was unanimously selected as the American League Rookie of the Year in 2017 and finished second in voting for the AL Most Valuable Player Award.
  Judge, who played college baseball for the Fresno State Bulldogs, was selected by the Yankees in the first round of the 2013 MLB draft. After making his MLB debut in 2016 and hitting a home run in his first MLB career at bat, Judge went on to have a record-breaking rookie season in 2017. He was named an All-Star and won the Home Run Derby, becoming the first MLB rookie to do so. Judge ended the season with 52 home runs, breaking Mark McGwire's MLB rookie record of 49 and the Yankees' full-season rookie record of 29. He won the American League Rookie of the Month Awards for April, May, June and September, as well as the AL's Player of the Month Award for June and September.
  Judge stands 6 feet 7 inches tall and weighs 282 pounds, which makes him one of the largest players in the MLB.
context_section_description: Judge made his MLB debut on August 13, 2016, starting in right field against the Tampa Bay Rays. In his first MLB at-bat, Judge hit a home run off Matt Andriese; the previous batter, Tyler Austin, also making his MLB debut, had done the same. This marked the first time that two teammates had hit home runs in their first MLB career at bats in the same game. Judge also hit a home run in his second MLB game, becoming the second Yankees player (after Joe Lefebvre in 1980) to homer in each of his first two MLB games. Judge's debut season, in which he batted .179 and struck out 42 times in 84 at-bats (95 plate appearances), ended prematurely when he was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a grade two right oblique strain on September 13, 2016 against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
caption: Judge batting in 2016
exif: {}