TAMPA — This one doesn’t count towards his encore to 62, but Aaron Judge has his first home run of the spring under his belt.
The Yankees captain belted an opposite-field, three-run home run on Monday night against Pirates minor league right-hander Colin Selby during a 9-2 win at Steinbrenner Field.
The Grapefruit League blast — which traveled an estimated 347 feet — was Judge’s first this year, coming in his fourth game of the spring.
He finished the night 1-for-2 and is now 4-for-8 with two doubles, one home run and one walk.
“Good at-bat,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Good to see him hit one like he does over there to right.”
After hitting an American League-record 62 home runs last season, Judge re-signed with the Yankees on a nine-year, $360 million contract and then was named the 16th captain in franchise history.
Judge served as the DH in Monday’s lineup, but he is scheduled to make his debut in left field on Wednesday, and possibly Thursday too, as part of a plan to help get Giancarlo Stanton some games in right field at Yankee Stadium.
“I wanted to have him a couple days of being out there and then a couple games, just to get a handful of days of reps and balls off the bat that way and then take stock of where we’re at on that,” Boone said.