AARON JAMES JUDGE

Born April 26, 1992 and raised in Linden, California, Aaron Judge was adopted almost immediately by his parents, two teachers. His older brother was adopted as well. Judge was a great athlete from the jump, winning awards across multiple sports in high school. He was recruited to play Tight End in the NCAA by programs such as Notre Dame, Stanford and UCLA. Though he stuck to baseball, one thing was undeniable, he was a natural athlete.

In 2010, Oakland picked him 31st overall, but instead he elected to play for his college as a Fresno Bulldog. As a Bulldog, Judge was named a three time all Conference player, a Freshman-All-American, and won the College Home Run Derby, The Yankees saw the skill and drafted Judge in 2013. After killing it in the AAA division for a few years, the Yankees brought Judge up to the Majors in 2016, where he struggled at 1st. In 2017, his first full rookie season, he hit the most home runs by a rookie ever in MLB history, and won Rookie of the Year. His size and strength proved to make him among the last batters a pitcher wants to face.

Judge is a stud on the field, and a leader off the field, too. A religious man, he is known to be humble and a team player. Still, such a stud must have swag, and Judge is no exception. He has endorsements with Pepsi and Adidas, after at first being with Under Armour. In 2018, Judge teamed up with Oakley to unveil a fly eyewear collection.

FUN FACTS

• Before each game at Yankee Stadium, Judge ceremoniously tosses exactly 40 sunflower seeds in the grass behind home plate (one for each man on the extended Yankees roster.)
• Judge keeps a note on his phone that reads ".179", his batting average with the Yankees in 2016, and looks at it daily as a source of motivation
• In January, Judge launched his “All Rise” charity for youth in the community.