Aaron Judge is taking heat for an incident that happened on Monday night. In the game between the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays, Judge hit a home run against Blue Jays pitcher Jay Jackson to give the Yankees the 7-0 lead in the eighth inning. But before Judge hit his second homer of the night, the Blue Jays broadcast team noticed Judge looking sideways toward the Yankees dugout, which led to speculation that he was cheating.
“When I came back to the dugout (one of the coaches) told me you’re going to be pissed when you see the video,” Jackson told the Toronto Sun. “He said they are tipping pitches.” Blue Jays manager John Schneider was also suspicious. The Toronto Sun said that Schneider was late to his postgame media availability likely because he was reviewing Judge’s plate appearance.
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“I saw it,” Schneider said. “Kind of odd that a hitter would be looking in that direction. He’s obviously looking in that direction for a reason and dive into it a little more tonight and tomorrow and make sure we’re doing everything we can to make ourselves susceptible to tendencies. But yeah, it was kind of odd to see him looking over there right before a pitch came.”
After the game, Judge explained why his eyes shifted during the at-bat. “There was a lot of chirping from our dugout, which I really didn’t like in the situation where it’s a 6-0 game,” Judge said, per the New York Post. “I know [manager Aaron Boone] got tossed — I was trying to save Boonie by calling timeout, like, ‘Hold up here, let me work.’ I was trying to see who was chirping in the dugout. It’s 6-0. Boonie got tossed, let’s just go to work.”
Boone, who was ejected from the game during the at-bat, echoed what Judge had to say. “There was some chirping going from our side when I got thrown out, and then it continued,” Boone said, per MLB.com. “I think a lot of our guys were still letting them hear it. Judge was looking over like, ‘I’m hitting here.’”
Judge is having a strong start to the 2023 season, hitting 10 home runs with 24 RBIs and a .274 batting average in 33 games. He’s coming off an MVP season in 2022, hitting 62 homers with 131 RBIs and a .311 batting average
