Aaron Judge hits 456-foot homer in Yankees’ game vs. Angels
And in his very first at-bat back in the Bronx on Monday, Judge set the tone with a loud two-run blast off Angels starter Yusei Kikuchi, sending a hanging changeup a Statcast-projected 456 feet into the left-field bleachers at Yankee Stadium. Judge’s fifth homer of the year left with an exit velocity of 116.2 mph — the hardest-hit home run across the Majors so far — and was the fourth-longest in MLB, as well.
Following the 5-4 loss at Tampa Bay on Sunday, Judge felt that the lineup as a whole may have been pressing a bit, getting themselves in “some bad counts and bad situations.” The first two plate appearances for New York against Kikuchi show that the club might have taken those words to heart. After leadoff hitter Paul Goldschmidt crushed a mistake 1-2 fastball into the left-center-field gap, Judge jumped on a 2-0 changeup that caught too much of the plate.
Judge now has 28 home runs that have traveled over 455 feet in the Statcast era (2015, including playoffs), the second most behind teammate Giancarlo Stanton (30).
