adminBy Oh Sang-jin Reporter= Aaron Judge (31-New York Yankees), who set the American League (AL) record for most home runs (62) and won the MVP award last year, has encouraged his rival Shohei Ohtani (29-LA Angels) to challenge for the home run record.
MLB.com, the official website of Major League Baseball, featured Jersey’s comments about Ohtani ahead of the Yankees’ game against the Angels on 20 June.
“Records are meant to be broken. It’s just a record. It would be interesting if Ohtani hit more than 63 home runs. We’ll see what happens,” he said, expressing his excitement about Ohtani challenging his record.
“It’s amazing,” Judge said of Ohtani’s two-hit performance. “I don’t like to see him in person when he’s playing against us, but it’s fun to watch him on TV and see him go eight innings and strike out 10 and hit two home runs in a game. It’s amazing what he’s done so far and I can’t wait to see what he can do in the future.”
True to his jersey, Ohtani has been a two-hit wonder this year. As a pitcher, he is 7-5 with a 3.50 ERA, and as a hitter, he is batting .306 with 35 home runs, 76 RBIs, 11 doubles and a 1.075 OPS. Ohtani hit his 35th home run of the season off Yankees pitcher Michael King in front of Jersey on the 18th.
“The hardest part was when I got close to 62 homers,” he said, also commenting on the pressure he felt last year when trying to break the record. “I was batting leadoff and the stadium was completely silent. I’ve never been in that situation before. I came to play baseball and I wasn’t thinking about the record, so I was shocked (to be expected to hit a home run),” he confessed.
Nevertheless, Jersey also expressed his desire to challenge for more than 62 home runs. “I still have quite a bit of my career left,” he said. If the record is broken (by Ohtani), then I’ll have another chance. But I’m not focusing on that (the home run record) right now.”바카라사이트
Judge was on a roll this season, batting .291 with 19 homers, 40 RBIs and a 1.078 OPS in 49 games, but on June 4 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, he crashed into the fence while fielding and injured his right big toe and has been out since the start of the second half. Judge has been taking batting practice and light defensive drills recently to speed up his return.