Who Should Represent New York Yankees in Home Run Derby?

The New York Yankees have plenty of options to send to the Home Run Derby should MLB decide to send an invite.

John Jones-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Yankees have several players it could send to the All-Star Game’s Home Run Derby next month in Seattle.

But, certainly, there’s a logical choice, and that’s outfielder Aaron Judge.

MLB.com put together a Home Run Derby candidate for each team and it fully acknowledged that Judge is currently on the injured list. But, who wouldn’t want to see that anyway? Well, Judge might not, per MLB:

He hasn’t taken part since winning in 2017, partly because his numbers did dip after that event. We should still all demand to see it anyway.

Judge won in 2017, the latest Yankees slugger to win the event. Robinson Canó claimed the title in 2011 in Arizona, Jason Giambi won it in 2002 in Milwaukee and Tino Martinez won it in 1997 in Cleveland.

But no Yankees slugger has won the title twice in their career.

The fans would certainly love it. Judge is coming off a 2022 in which he broke the American League record for most home runs in a season with 62, passing former Yankees outfielder Roger Maris.

The problem is that Judge has been out with an injured toe since June 3 and received a PRP injection on Thursday. While his manager Aaron Boone hasn’t ruled Judge out of the All-Star Game, it’s starting to look less likely Judge might have the runway to participate in the Game, much less the Derby.

That would be a shame. Judge already has 19 home runs in 2023 in spite of an earlier injured list stint in late April and early May.