Aaron Judge Will Become The Tallest And Heaviest Center Fielder In Baseball History Today

Back in February, Aaron Judge was asked about playing some left field this year and said he was “primarily a center fielder.” Boone had him do some work on the back fields in Tampa but mostly dismissed the idea of making the move but said who knew what could happen. Well, we’re not even in April yet and Aaron Hicks, Clint Frazier, and Jacoby Ellsbury are all on the DL. No one could have seen that coming and we’re in territory right now that wasn’t planned for. That’s why today Aaron Judge, listed at 6’7″ 282 pounds, will be manning center field in Toronto. Aaron Boone said he does not want to burn out Gardner’s legs this early in the season, so this is where we’re at. Judge has experience at the position, playing it mainly in high school and 11 games in the minors. But still it’s not something you want to see this early in the year, forcing your everyday right fielder to play a completely different position.

Center field is a whole different animal, even if he played it in high school a long, long time ago. Also this goes without saying but center field at the major league level is incredibly different than in high school and Judge didn’t see anytime in center this spring. Today should be interesting and we’ll all hold our collective breaths praying nothing crazy happens. Just hope CC Sabathia keeps the ball on the ground and gives him minimal chances. That’s not how baseball works though. The game finds you and it wouldn’t shock me one bit if the first ball off the bat finds its way to number 99 in center. This should be something.