Aaron Judge on deleting his congratulatory tweet for Jose Altuve in 2020: "I was just sick to my stomach"

In February 2020, New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge explained why he deleted his congratulatory tweet for Jose Altuve. Judge congratulated Altuve for winning the 2017 American League MVP. However, he deleted the tweet after news of the Houston Astros' cheating scandal surfaced.

At New York Yankees spring training in Tampa, one of the reporters dared to pop the question to Judge.

Here's what the reporter asked him:

"There were reports of when Manfred’s report came out you deleted a tweet that congratulated Altuve back in 2017. Is that accurate? Did you delete that?"

Judge responded:

"Yeah, oh yeah. I took it down right when the story broke out, and right when Mike Fiers came out and talked to The Athletic and stated what was going on in 2017. Once I heard that I was sick to my stomach."

He added:

"I had a lot of respect for those guys, what they did, and especially what they did for the city of Houston, and that whole organization for a team who was in last place and drafted right, got the right players in there, and eventually got the World Series. I had a lot of respect for them… Then to find out it wasn’t earned and that they cheated, it didn’t sit well with me, and I felt like the post I did didn’t mean the same anymore.”

"Aaron Judge when asked why he deleted his tweet congratulating Jose Altuve on winning the 2017 AL MVP." - @SportsCenter

Here's a screenshot of Aaron Judge's deleted Twitter post congratulating the 2017 AL MVP, Jose Altuve:

"In 2017, Aaron Judge tweeted out his congratulations to Jose Altuve for winning the MVP over him. That tweet has since been deleted." - @Josh Callaway

Aaron Judge was the runner-up for the AL MVP in 2017 after losing to Altuve by a narrow margin.

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2017 Statistics: Aaron Judge vs. Jose Altuve

League Championship Series - Houston Astros v New York Yankees - Game Five

Jose Altuve was named the 2017 AL MVP in November after receiving 27 first-place votes, three second-place votes, and zero third-place votes.

Judge, meanwhile, came second, with two first-place votes, 27 second-place votes, and one third-place vote.

"Jose Altuve is your 2017 AL MVP." - @Bryan Hoch

Here's a comparative analysis of Altuve and Judge's 2017 statistics:

Statistics	Aaron Judge	Jose Altuve
Games	155	153
HR	52	24
OPS	1.049	.957
BB%	18.7%	8.8%
K%	30.7%	12.7%
wOBA	.430	.405
wRC+	174	160
fWAR	8.3	7.6

Source: Pinstripe Alley

Cut to November 2022, the Astros have clinched the World Series for the second time.

Judge was also named a finalist for the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award for the second time in his career.