Watch as Aaron Judge makes three highlight defensive plays, including a HR robbery of Pete Crow-Armstrong

The New York Yankees host the Chicago Cubs for a key weekend series that will close out the first half, and it’s not overly presumptuous to call it a potential World Series preview. The Yankees drew first blood and then some in Friday’s opener with an 11-0 blowout win. It takes a lot to overshadow Carlos Rodón’s eight shutout innings and Cody Bellinger’s three-homer game, but Aaron Judge may have done just that — and not in the way you might think

Judge rose to the occasion on Friday with a trio of highlight-worthy plays not at the plate, which is of course what we’d expect from the best hitter in the world, but rather in the field. First and most notably was this play in the fourth inning. With the Yankees up 3-0, Cubs All-Star center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong drove a 1-1 fastball from Rodón toward the short porch in right. Unfortunately for PCA, Judge was on the case.

That’s the AL MVP frontrunner robbing one of the leading NL MVP candidates. Statcast tracked PCA’s drive at 327 feet, which is enough to get it over the wall in that location. The 6-foot-7 Judge, though, was having none of it. That would’ve been PCA’s 26th homer of the season. 

Oh, as long as we’re on the subject of robberies out in right field, here’s Kyle Tucker at the expense of the aforementioned Mr. Bellinger.

Had that landed, Bellinger would’ve wound up with a record-tying four-homer night in his first game against the Cubs since they traded him to the Yankees this past winter. Instead, he “merely” had a three-homer revenge game, and we’re focusing on Judge instead. 

Speaking of which, Judge wasn’t done. Dansby Swanson, the very next batter, laced a liner into right, and this time Judge made a very different kind of highlight play.

Based on the launch angle and exit velocity, Swanson’s liner had an expected batting average of .910. Thanks to Judge’s ranging snare, however, it was merely the third out of the inning. 

Now we jump ahead in the action to the eighth inning, when Tucker, with a pair of runners on, lifted one to the corner in right. Once again, though, Judge was sheriff of that particular county.

Judge, of course, is more than “just” the most dangerous slugger of his era. He’s also a deceptively athletic ballplayer who this season has graded out as a pronounced defensive asset in right field. He certainly reminded us of that on Friday.