On June 28, 2012, Aaron Judge hit his first Cape League home run, in his first Cape League game.
He’s hit a few more since.
The breakout star of Major League Baseball in 2017 finished his summer in Brewster with a .270 batting average and five home runs. Interestingly, he was not at the forefront of that year’s juiced ball home run binge. Tyler Horan set a single season record with 16. First-round pick Phil Ervin had 11. Kyle Schwarber hit eight.
But it wasn’t hard to imagine Judge – then listed at 6-7, 250 – growing into even more power. Baseball America ranked him as the league’s sixth best prospect, though questions remained.
The top prospect in the Alaska League in 2011 despite not hitting a home run, he’s still raw at the plate, struggles to get to quality inside pitches and is almost patient to a fault, waiting for a perfect pitch to crush. A center fielder for Brewster, he fits best in right field with his solid speed and arm strength.
“He’s similar (physically) to Giancarlo Stanton,” the NL scouting director said. “Big, tall, long limbs, long arms, big power. How much contact he’ll make and how much power he’ll get to is the question.”
I guess that’s not a question anymore.