The main character of the 2023 Major League Baseball (MLB) home run was last year’s home run king Aaron Judge (New York Yankees).
Judge started the 2023 MLB Opening Day against the San Francisco Giants at Yankee Stadium in New York, USA on the 31st (Korean time) as the second batter in center field and fired a cool home run in the first at bat in the bottom of the first inning.
Yankees fans chanted “MVP” as Judge entered the plate. 먹튀검증
Fans’ voices grew louder as Judge hit a 149 km/h sinker on the second pitch of Francisco starter Logan Webb and drew a solo arch over the center fence.
Judge’s batted ball flew 129m at 176km/h. It was the first home run in the MLB regular season this year.
In an interview with MLB.com after the game, Judge said, “I can’t hear the fans’ voices when I’m at bat or running base. However, congratulations from my family, spectators, and my teammates at the dugout after arriving at home plate (after hitting a home run). I get a thrill when I receive it,” he said.
Last year, Judge hit 62 home runs, breaking the MLB American League (AL) season record for most home runs (61) set by Roger Maris in 1961 in 61 years.
Judge, who also dominated the AL RBI (131 points), runs (133 points), on-base percentage (0.425), and slugging percentage (0.686) categories, enjoyed the honor of AL Most Valuable Player (MVP).
Judge, who qualified as a free agent (FA) after the end of the 2022 season, signed a super-large contract with the Yankees, the original team, for a total of 360 million dollars for 9 years.
The Yankees made him their captain at the end of his contract with Judge. This is the 16th captain in Yankees history.
The Yankees did not pick a captain for eight seasons after Derek Jeter retired after the 2014 season.
Judge, who became ‘the first Yankees captain since Jeter’, hit a home run in his first at-bat this year, drawing cheers from home fans.
The Yankees gained an extra point with Glaber Torres’ two-run four in the fourth inning, and starter Gerrit Cole pitched 6 innings with 3 hits and no runs and 11 strikeouts to beat San Francisco 5-0.
Judge, who hit 1 RBI in the 7th inning, finished the opening game with 2 RBIs in 4 at-bats.