Aaron Judge Turns Routine Play Into A Warning For Rival First Basemen
Aaron Judge turned a routine play at first into a warning video for MLB first baseman Thursday night. The Yankees' 6-foot-7, 282-pound captain was just running hard to first base when White Sox first baseman Miguel Vargas’ arm got in his way.
MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch called it an “ugly” left-wrist injury for Vargas on the play and even evoked “shades of the Jonathan Aranda” collision earlier this month. In other words, if a human freight train named Judge or Giancarlo Staton is bearing down, maybe just live to tag them another day.
It was basic physics.
Judge was barreling up the line, Vargas tried to make a play, and the big man won the mass and momentum battle, as he tends to do. The Yankees have seen this kind of thing before. Stanton collided with Tampa Bay’s Jonathan Aranda in the Bronx earlier this month; Aranda wound up with a fractured left wrist and a trip to the IL the next day.
Judge’s size is part of the deal.
He isn’t just tall—he’s strong, fast, and plays hard. Most first basemen know the drill. They give the runner a lane, protect the glove hand, and when a player Judge’s size is coming in hot, move.
Luckily, Judge suffered no ill effects. He advanced to second on the play and scored on Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s sacrifice fly.
For the Yankees, it’s pretty simple. Judge on the bases means good things usually happen. For everyone else, especially the first baseman across the league, consider this a PSA. You don’t “stop” Aaron Judge. You complete the play, get out of the way, and live to tell your children about it.
The White Sox hadn’t immediately updated Vargas’s status at the time of publication. But the visual wasn’t good. Replays showed Vargas’ wrist snapped all the way back. He left the game in obvious pain. In a league full of elite athletes, Judge is still a different kind of problem.
