Despite recent struggles, Aaron Judge gets 'best in the league' shoutout from Athletics shortstop

New York Yankees captain Aaron Judge has been imperious for the American League East leaders since the start of the season. However, the reigning AL MVP has struggled a bit over the last two series against the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Angels.

Despite his recent underwhelming output at the plate, Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson was all praise for Aaron Judge. Wilson, who tied Judge at the hits leaderboard on Thursday, made his feelings known on MLB Network Radio.

"I want to be up there with the best of the best and Aaron Judge is the best in the league right now," Wilson said.

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Jacob Wilson tied Aaron Judge at the MLB hits leaderboard on Thursday after registering his 101st hit of the season against the Houston Astros. The 23-year-old is batting .358 for the season and has been one of the lone bright spots for the team playing at their temporary home in Sacramento.

However, the Yankees' captain regained his position at the top of the hits leaderboard after going 3-for-4 on Friday against the American League rivals, the Baltimore Orioles. Judge has 104 hits while Wilson is on 102 after Friday's slate of games.

Aaron Judge's return to form fails to propel Yankees to win over Orioles

Despite a stellar outing from Aaron Judge in the series opener at Yankee Stadium, the Bronx Bombers fell to a 5-3 loss, their sixth in their last seven games. Judge also went deep for a solo home run in the game, taking his home run tally to 27 for the season, the second most behind Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh.

Aaron Judge entered Friday's contest after going 3-for-27 over the last few games. However, his three-hit game showed positive signs for Yankees manager Aaron Boone.

“I liked his at-bats tonight,” Boone said. “I thought he made a little adjustment with his hands. “Sometimes you are just a little late, get into a spot and get into that really strong position to where now you’re getting your good swing off, where you’re through the zone a lot. So it looked to me like a little adjustment with his hands. And I thought he put a lot of good swings tonight.”

The Yankees will look to bounce back in the second game of the series with Aaron Judge seemingly regaining his imperious form at the plate in the series opener.

About the author

Chaitanya Prakash is an editor who covers US Sports at Sportskeeda. His first brush with sportswriting was in 2012 when the greatest football manager of all time, Sir Alex Ferguson, bid farewell to the beautiful game.

Although having started out professionally as a cricket writer in 2022, Chaitanya's curiosity and indiscriminate interest in all sports in general eventually introduced him to America's favorite pastime.

While Chaitanya's favorite player from the current crop is the dynamic Venezuelan Ronald Acuna Jr., his all-time favorite, however, is Pedro Martinez, for his self-belief and consistency. He also rates Jose Bautista's iconic bat flip in 2015 as his favorite moment in baseball history.

Chaitanya specializes in reporting on technical aspects of the game or analyzing patterns behind specific plays. He also likes pondering over players' self-assessments following the conclusion of a game as it helps him get an idea of how they think about the sport in general.

When not cheering for his favorites across sports, Chaitanya likes being transported to the past through a good war documentary or a historical documentary in general.

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Edited by Chaitanya Prakash