Yankees’ Aaron Judge a ‘bad boy,’ fierce rival says

New York Yankees' Aaron Judge smiles as he speaks during an interview after the team's baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays, in which he hit his 61st home run of the season, Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022, in Toronto.

The Yankees may have the right stuff to finally slay the Astros in the postseason and reach the World Series.

Houston’s manager Dusty Baker believes the Yankees will have the best player on the field: Aaron Judge.

“He’s a bad boy,” Baker told the “R2C2″ podcast with CC Sabathia and Ryan Ruocco in a clip released Thursday.

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Baker goes on to call Judge the “unanimous” American League MVP.

Judge hit his 61st home run of the season on Wednesday night, tying the all-time single-season Yankees record set by Roger Maris in 1961. He has seven more games to hit No. 62.

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Judge also leads the league in RBI (130) and had a slight edge in the batting average race at .313. If he keeps the batting average up, he could become the game’s first Triple Crown winner since Miguel Cabrera in 2012.

Here’s Baker’s full quote:

“I think what he’s doing, under this pressure of New York City and free agency, is unbelievable. People ask me, who’s the MVP? Last year, I believed Ohtani was the MVP. But I can’t give it to him. As much as I admire this cat and what he’s doing, Ohtani, how do you in modern times be in line to win the Triple Crown and hit 60 home runs when they were saying that usually when a guy is hitting a bunch of home runs, he’s hitting .230 or .240? He’s not only slugging, he’s hitting and driving in runs, and that’s the most amazing thing. It’s the amount of runs he’s driving in and the amount of runs he’s producing. Especially he’s doing it in leadoff and the second spot. These aren’t gravy spots like three, four and five. They’re out there for you all the time. Unless you’ve got a tremendous eighth and ninth hitter, which most teams don’t, his opportunities ... and everybody is pitching around him. He’s my unanimous MVP. He’s a bad boy. I didn’t think he was going to continue this pace, especially playing center field. That’s a lot of work. He’s doing work on both sides of the field.”

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Brendan Kuty may be reached at bkuty@njadvancemedia.com.

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