Aaron James Judge is an American professional baseball outfielder for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). Judge was unanimously selected as the American League (AL) Rookie of the Year in 2017 and finished second, behind José Altuve, for AL Most Valuable Player.

Judge, who played college baseball at California State University, Fresno, was selected by the Yankees in the first round of the 2013 MLB draft. After making his major league baseball debut in 2016 and hitting a home run in his first career at bat, Judge went on to have a record-breaking rookie season in 2017. He was named an All-Star and won the Home Run Derby, becoming the first rookie to do so. Judge ended the season with 52 home runs, breaking Mark McGwire's MLB rookie record of 49 and the Yankees' full-season rookie record of 29 (previously held by Joe DiMaggio). He won the American League (AL) Rookie of the Month Awards for April, May, June and September, as well as the AL's Player of the Month Award for June and September.

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Judge stands 6 feet 7 inches (2.01 m) tall and weighs 282 pounds (128 kg), which makes him one of the biggest players in the major leagues.

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The Yankees drafted Judge in the first round of the 2013 Major League Baseball draft with the 32nd overall selection, a pick the team received as compensation after losing Nick Swisher in free agency. Judge signed with the Yankees and received a $1.8 million signing bonus. He tore a quadriceps femoris muscle while participating in a base running drill, which kept him out of the 2013 season.

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He made his professional debut with the Charleston RiverDogs of the Class A South Atlantic League in 2014. He had a .333 batting average (6th in the league), .428 on-base percentage (OBP; 3rd), .530 slugging percentage (SLG; 6th), and hit nine home runs with 45 RBIs in 65 games for Charleston. The Yankees promoted him to the Tampa Yankees of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League during the season, where he hit .283 with a .411 OBP (2nd in the league), .442 SLG, eight home runs, and 33 RBIs in 66 games for Tampa.

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Judge made his MLB debut on August 13, 2016, starting in right field against the Tampa Bay Rays. In his first at-bat, Judge hit a home run off Matt Andriese; the previous batter, Tyler Austin, also making his MLB debut, had done the same. This marked the first time that two teammates had hit home runs in their first career at bats in the same game. Judge also hit a home run in his second MLB game, becoming the second Yankees player to do so, after Joe Lefebvre in 1980. Judge's debut season, in which he batted .179 and struck out 42 times in 84 at-bats (95 plate appearances), ended prematurely when he was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a grade 2 right oblique strain on September 13, 2016 against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Source.