Watch: Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge crushes a home run to deep, deep center

It's only the first day of spring training, but we've already got a highlight worth sharing from Friday's Yankees-Phillies game in Tampa. With one out, nobody
Watch: Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge crushes a home run to deep, deep center
Watch: Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge crushes a home run to deep, deep center /

It's only the first day of spring training, but we've already got a highlight worth sharing from Friday's Yankees-Phillies game in Tampa. With one out, nobody on and New York up 1–0 on Philadelphia in the bottom of the fifth, young rightfielder Aaron Judge stepped to the plate against lefthander Elneiry Garcia and absolutely unloaded on a ball, crushing a solo home run nearly all the way out of Tampa's George M. Steinbrenner Field. Don't believe me? Take a gander at the video, and weep for that baseball, because it had a family.

(Note: It's fun to imagine that, right after Judge sentenced that ball to death, he smiled and muttered to himself, "Court's adjourned" or "You're out of order" or some other law joke.)

Judge is no stranger to moonshots—the giant 24-year-old has made a habit of destroying balls throughout the minors, in batting practice and a coupleoftimes with the Yankees last season—but Friday's blast was something else. There's no Statcast data available for the homer, but Judge's shot landed in the deepest part of the park, and if it weren't for the scoreboard it slammed into, it might've gone out of the stadium entirely.

The former first-round pick and top prospect is penciled as New York's starting rightfielder to begin the season, so don't be surprised if you see a few more home runs like this throughout 2017.


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Jon Tayler
JON TAYLER

Jon Tayler is a writer for SI.com. His most prized possession is a Rich Garces rookie card.