Baseball should thank its lucky stars Aaron Judge is in Derby

Aaron Judge has cut a Ruthian swath through baseball’s first half of the season, and to that point, could anyone imagine the Babe turning down the chance to participate in a hypothetical 1927 Home Run Derby?

There is as much chance of that as the Bambino rejecting an offer of a six-pack of brews and a fistful of hot dogs on any day of the week ending with a “y.”

Now, generations later, we will all rise — or, alternately, all sit in front of our televisions, tablets and other
streaming devices — when the Yankees’ larger-than-life linear descendant in right field takes part in Monday’s Home Run Derby in Miami, a day before the All-Star Game.

Of course, Judge is all-in on this promotional extravaganza, his formal declaration announced before Monday’s 6-3 win at the Stadium against the Blue Jays. Given a choice, No. 99 never had a choice. For while it may be a stretch to suggest that Judge’s presence in this more-or-less silly event that was created in 1985 to pump the ratings for ESPN is good for baseball, there is no doubt that his absence from the competition would have been embarrassing for the sport.

Judge is a phenomenon, a 25-year-old rookie who is leading the American League in all three Triple Crown categories plus walks, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS. He is the king of distance and exit velocity. More than that, he is a show-stopper, the leading AL vote-getter in the fan balloting for All-Star selection and the youngest to achieve that milestone since 24-year-old Ken Griffey, Jr. in 1994.