Aaron Judge is an experienced professional in Major League Baseball (MLB) and has been playing for the New York Yankees for his ninth season. He was recently named the 2022 American League Most Valuable Player (MVP). During a game against the Detroit Tigers on Saturday, Judge had a career first experience on the field – he was ejected from the game for arguing a called third strike by home plate umpire Ryan Blakney.
The incident happened in the seventh inning of the game when Tyler Holton pitched a fastball to Judge on a 3-2 count. Judge believed that the pitch was outside of his strike zone, and after expressing his disagreement, he walked back to the dugout. However, Blakney decided to eject him from the game. Despite this setback, Judge had a productive game and ended it with a 2-for-4 performance and an RBI. The Yankees won the match 5-3.
It’s interesting to note that Judge became the first captain of the Yankees to be ejected from a game since Don Mattingly in 1994. After the match, Judge expressed surprise at being ejected and mentioned that he has said worse things before without getting thrown out of the game. He also acknowledged that umpires have a difficult job and maintained respect for Blakney. Additionally, Seth Rothman pointed out that Blakney consistently called pitches just outside of his strike zone as strikes throughout the game.
In conclusion, Aaron Judge is one of MLB’s most talented players and has had an impressive career with the New York Yankees. While he may have had some disagreements with umpires over calls in games, he always maintains respect for their difficult job and acknowledges that they play an important role in ensuring fairness on the field.