Judge isn’t just swinging at the right pitches, he’s actually connecting more often, especially in the zone. His zone contact rate i s nearing 80%. When he connects, the results are punishing: a 95.7 mph average exit velocity and a 25% barrel rate.

Rodon, who signed a six-year, $162 million free agent deal with the Yankees before the 2023 season, first saw Judge on June 29, 2017 at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago when the lefthander was with the White Sox. He struck out Judge in his first at-bat and got him to ground to short in his second at-bat of what would be a 12-3 Yankees victory.

Aaron Judge slugged a tiebreaking homer to open the seventh inning for the host New York Yankees, who completed a three-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals with 4-3 victory on Wednesday night.