Aaron Judge's teammate Carlos Rodon gives first-hand account of playing with the Yankees captain

New York Yankees captain Aaron Judge has had a stellar start to the 2025 MLB season and is the favorite to bag the AL MVP award again. Judge had won it unanimously last year, and the competition is far behind in the current season.

One person with first-hand experience playing with Judge is Yankees starting pitcher Carlos Rodon. On Tuesday, Rodon shared thoughts about Judge on episode 153 of "The Show," hosted by veteran MLB insiders Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman.

"He has those slow starts and then all of a sudden he just takes off and, oh, he hits .320 with 58 or, you know, whatever, at least 50 homers, 100-some RBIs," Rodon said [36:04].

Rodon joined the Yakees before the 2023 season, signing a $162M free agent contract. Before his first season with the Yankees, Rodon conversed with Jose Trevino, who informed him that Judge usually starts slow but goes off as the season progresses. The 32-year-old had heard the same from many before. But this season has been different.

"And, you know, here we are, year three with Aaron Judge, and he finally gets off to a hot start, and he's hitting .400. So, we haven't, this is more of uncharted territory as far as being the bystander watching Aaron Judge," Rodon added.

With his current trajectory, Rodon believes that Judge will probably win the 2025 AL MVP. At present, Judge has a .391 batting average and has hit 21 home runs.

Carlos Rodon compares Aaron Judge to Barry Bonds

Barry Bonds hasn't entered the MLB Hall of Fame despite his historic achievements in the sport due to allegations of steroid abuse. Still, many believe Bonds is the greatest slugger ever to play baseball.

Carlos Rodon believes nobody is comparable to Bonds, but his teammate, Aaron Judge, is close to it. He says that Judge's stats show that he is playing like he is in high school, but at the major league level.

"So it's interesting. There's no one to compare it to. I think Barry Bonds, but I didn’t play with him. But I got to watch him, and you guys did as well. I think that would be pretty close, although Barry, I mean, for me, is still kind of in a tier of his own. But he's very, very close to that," Rodon said [37:15].

Carlos Rodon started for the Yankees against the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday. He pitched seven innings, struck out eight, and gave up only one earned run. The Yankees won the game 3-2.

Aaron Judge didn't have a dominant outing as he went hitless, but Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Anthony Volpe homered in the win.