Elliott: MVP Judge awaits his moment, his time

October 5, 2025

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

What do “redoubtables” like Kohl Stewart, Clint Frazier, Colin Moran, Trey Ball, Austin Meadows, D.J. Peterson, Braden Shipley, Chris Anderson, Jonathon Crawford, Nick Ciuffo, Phil Ervin, Travis Demeritte and Jason Hursh have in common?

Besides being household names in their own households?

All were selected in the first round before the New York Yankees drafted and signed this year’s likely MVP Aaron Judge, who went 32nd overall from the Cal State Fresno Bulldogs in 2013.

The Minnesota Twins took Stewart fourth overall, Frazier went fifth to Cleveland, Moran sixth to the Florida Marlins, Ball went seventh to the Boston Red Sox, Meadows ninth to the Pittsburgh Pirates, D.J. Peterson 12th to the Seattle Mariners, Anderson 18th to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Crawford 20th to the Detroit Tigers, Ciuffo 21st to the Tampa Bay Rays, Ervin 27th to the Cincinnati Reds, Demeritte 29th to the Rays.

All had little or no impact. How could so many teams have missed on such a talent, Yankees scouting director Damon Oppenheimer was asked before his Yankees fell 13-7 to the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 2 of the American League Division Series?

“You could ask me the same question,” said Oppenheimer. “Aaron teases me all the time how we took Eric Jagielo (26th overall) with our first pick.”

A third baseman from Notre Dame, Jagielo had good numbers in the minors and was a key member of the package (along with Caleb Cotham, Rookie Davis and Tony Renda) the Yankees sent to Cincinnati in 2015 to obtain closer Ardolis Chapman. Jagielo was hit in the head, had concussion-like sympthoms and then diabetes affected his eyesight.

Home run king Barry Bonds struggled in the early going during postseason.

Same with Alex Rodriguez.

Ditto for Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner.

Judge had two hits in Game 1, but struck out against Kevin Gausman with none out and the bases loaded and the Jays up 2-0 in the sixth inning on Saturday. It was a moment ... which did not happen.

And on Sunday he walked and struck out against impressive rookie Trey Yesavage. Judge reached on an infield single facing reliever Justin Bruihl. Again with the bases loaded in the seventh, he singled to centre, knocking in a run. In the ninth, he walked faced Siranthony Dominguez.

Judge is not in a 1-for-25 skid this fall, but rather he is 8-for-18 (.444) this postseason with one double and two RBIs.

Lifetime he is 53-for-238 (.223) with 16 homers and 35 RBIs and an OPS of .776. During his 10 years in the regular season he has a 1.028 OPS. In the 17 playoff series, he has played he has hit under .240 eight times.

This regular season all he did was hit 30 doubles and 53 homers while driving in 114. He had a 1.144 OPS in 152 games. Judge led the American League in runs scored (137), walks (124), batting average, on-base (.457), slugging (.688) and OPS. He’s headed for his third MVP since 2022.

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At the racetrack, they say there is a story in each and every stall. Same with a scout who signs a major leaguer.

Oppenheimer went to see another player with Fresno when he first spotted Judge as a freshman in 2011, saying “his physicality stood out.”

Going back to see him as a sophomore and “everything stood out,” and that summer of 2012 Judge spent with the Brewster White Caps on Cape Cod.

“The power stood out, but his line drives had way more carry than anyone else,” said the Yankees vice-president and scouting director. “When the Cape had its workout day at Fenway Park, he put on a show during batting practice. He threw well. He was well-rounded. We didn’t think he would be Devon White, but we thought he could play centre.”

At 6-foot-7 Judge showed plus power, plus hitting ability, was a plus runner and a plus arm. Most scouts say two plus attributes are enough to be drafted.

“The only amateur players I ever saw that better than Aaron Judge were Alex Rodriguez as a high schooler and Bryce Harper at Southern Nevada junior college,” Oppenheimer said. “You know he is more proud of his average than all the home runs. He takes a lot of pride in his average.”

Oppenheimer began scouting for the San Diego Padres in 1988, joined the Yankees in 1993 and became scouting director in 2005. And there was a time when he was almost hired by the Blue Jays.

This past July, the Yankees drafted INF Core Jackson (Wyoming, Ont.) in the fifth round from Utah University and the Great Lake Canadians and RHP Blake Gillespie (Arva, Ont.) in the ninth from the Charlotte ‘49ers and Ontario Nationals as well as signing undrafted free agent RHP Tyler Boudreau (Middle Sackville, N.S.) from the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Sylvan Lake Gulls.

Born in Sacramento, Judge was adopted the day after he was born by Patty and Wayne Judge, who both worked as teachers in Linden, Calif.

“He was raised right,” Oppenheimer said. “He had it all: heart, head and skills.”

To rank with Derek Jeter, Mickey Mantle, Mariano Rivera, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra and Babe Ruth, Judge has to win.

And headed home down 2-0 this does not look like the year.

We do remember the Blue Jays leaving Rogers Centre down 2-0 to the Texas Rangers in the 2015 ALDS and returning from Arlington, Tex., for a Game 5.

It was a game fans flipped over.

* * *

Blue Jays 13, Yankees 7

The Excellent

Rookie Trey Yesavage pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings walking one and fanning 11, setting the franchise record for the most strikeouts by a Jay in a postseason game. He became the second-youngest pitcher in major-league history to record 10 or more strikeouts in a postseason start, trailing only Pirates John Candelaria (14 against the Reds). In his first four career starts, he has a 2.33 ERA with 27 strikeouts.

The Good

Defensive whiz Daulton Varsho was 4-for-5 with two doubles, two homers and four RBIs. He doubled to right field in the second, drove in a run with a two-out RBI double in the third, hit a two-run shot to right centre field in the fourth and hit a solo homer to right field in the sixth. He became the sixth player to record four extra-base hits in a postseason game, joining Chicago White Sox Frank Isbell in 1906 against the Cubs, Pirates Bob Robertson against the 1971 Giants, Yankees Hideki Matsui facing the 2003 Red Sox, St. Louis Cardinals’ Albert Pujols against the 2011 Milwaukee Brewers and Boston’s Kike Hernández facing the 2021 Tampa Bay Rays. It was the fifth postseason multi-home run game in franchise history, joining José Bautista at Kansas City, Danny Jansen against the Tampa Bay Rays, Teoscar Hernández facing Seattle and Alejandro Kirk on Saturday.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Montreal, Que.) hit a grand slam to left field off a 2-1 four seamer from RHP Will Warren in the fourth inning. It was the first post-season grand slam in Blue Jays’ history. He added two singles and is now 6-for-9 (.667) with two home runs and six RBIs.

George Springer hit a solo shot on a first pitch sinker off RHP Will Warren in the fifth, marking his 20th postseason home run, tying Derek Jeter for the fifth-most trailing only Manny Ramirez (29), Jose Altuve (27), Bernie Williams (22) and Kyle Schwarber (21).

Ernie Clement opened the scoring in the second with a two-run home run to left off LHP Max Fried, his first career post-season hit.

The Bad

Eric Lauer allowed three runs in 1/3 of an inning.

Justin Bruihl gave up two runs retiring one hitter.

Tommy Nance allowed two runs in 1/3 of an inning.

Guerrero had an error at 1B.