Yankees Aaron Judge Ready for WBC after Big Day

Aaron Judge and the long ball go hand in hand. This is why, in the early goings of the spring, nobody is that surprised at the rate he has clobbered baseballs thus far. No, these don't count, but if you're the New York Yankees or his WBC teammates, it's something to get excited about because this year's Captain America is ready.

Judge has already smashed multiple home runs in BP when facing his teammates. One of them turned out to be a 99 MPH pitch by Elmer Rodriguez, which is an absurd feat at any time of the year. Against the Detroit Tigers in an exhibition game, the results were much of the same.

The first homer came in the third against veteran Burch Smith, who doesn't quite have the propensity for nastiness that Rodriguez does, and made his MLB debut in 2013 with the Padres. Judge crushed a cutter down in the zone, and the ball left his bat at 104.5 MPH. It carried 420 feet over the wall.

All Rise!

Aaron Judge belts his first homer of #SpringTraining 👨‍⚖️ pic.twitter.com/J2hpPyYiEI
— MLB (@MLB) February 21, 2026

Judge homered off of Ricky Vanasco the next inning in the fourth. He pulled it down the line, and the ball that flirted between being fair and foul shot over the wall at 106.1 MPH. It was a banner day for Judge off the journeyman pitchers.

This guy is pretty good, huh? pic.twitter.com/XmRwP6rVOE
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) February 21, 2026

Getting Ready

When Judge was asked about the homers, he, of course, played it down. He said the games don't count and that all of this is more about preparation than anything.

"Nah, it’s about getting ready," Judge said when asked if the results matter, according to NJ.com's Randy Miller. "At this point in my career, I’ve got things I need to work on, things I need to do that are going help us put the best team out there. So I focus on that, and I’ll figure out the results when we start playing real games.”

WBC Up Next

Feb 21, 2026; Tampa, Florida, USA; New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge (99) at bat against the Detroit Tigers during the first inning in a Spring Training game at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Mandatory Credit: Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images | Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images

Judge not only has the regular season to worry about. He also has the World Baseball Classic, where he'll be leading the United States in hopes of having his country finally win it all for the first time since 2017.

Last time around, the United States was led by Mike Trout, who, unfortunately, was not able to participate this year due to insurance reasons. The US went down to Japan in the finals, with an apropos finish between Trout and then-teammate Shohei Ohtani.

Judge is hoping for better results. He's on the right track so far, and according to him, he's feeling good already.

“I still have a lot of work to do,” he continued. “You like seeing results in spring training, obviously, but I’m happy to get three at-bats and feel good in the field.”

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