The Yankees beat the Blue Jays Monday evening in Toronto, 7-4, and reigning MVP Aaron Judge was one of the biggest stars with a two-homer game. However, there was a stir on social media surrounding Judge's second homer. First off, it was a gargantuan blast at 462 feet. Here it is in all its glory:
That wasn't what set the Twitterverse on fire, though.
Shortly after Yankees manager Aaron Boone was ejected for arguing balls and strikes (specifically, standing up for Judge after a low strike was incorrectly called), the Toronto broadcast caught Judge peering out the side of his eyes just before pitches were coming to the plate and wondered aloud what he might be looking at.
This invariably led to speculation about the Yankees and Judge doing something untoward. Looking back at the catcher isn't illegal; it's just widely considered bush league. Anyway, it doesn't seem like Judge could possibly be looking back at the catcher. Not without turning his head more. It certainly isn't illegal, or even bush league in the least, to peer into your own dugout while hitting. I suppose some will claim the Yankees had some sign-stealing operation or something, and Judge was looking into the dugout to see them pass along the pitch.
A big problem with this line of thinking is that the Blue Jays used pitchcom. Yes, the technology that enables the pitcher and catcher to relay signs without using the catcher's fingers, along with a nod or a shake from the pitcher.
Anyway, here's the quick, on-air discussion, a good shot of Judge's eyes and then Judge dropping the hammer.
After the game, Judge was asked about it. It took him a second to realize what the reporters were asking about (take a look here). Then he said, "There was kind of a lot of chirping from our dugout, which I really didn't like in the situation where it's a 6-0 game, and I know Boonie got tossed. I was trying to save Boonie by calling timeout like, 'Hey, lemme work here.' I was kinda trying to see who was chirping in the dugout. It's 6-0, like, 'Boonie got tossed; let's just go to work now.'"
Judge further said he likes Boone standing up for him, but once that was over, he wanted his teammates to move on from the argument, noting that he said something to a few players in the dugout. As a reminder, Judge was named Yankees captain this past offseason, the first since Derek Jeter.
Blue Jays pitcher Jay Jackson, who gave up that home run, said the following, via Rob Longley: "I'm not going to say anything against any organization ... but for him to be peeking over for that amount of time, it seemed like it wasn't just a glance and re-adjusting to get back on the pitcher."
Again, though, the Blue Jays were using pitchcom. Unless the insinuation is the Yankees somehow hacked the system and were making their hitters look at the dugout for the information in the middle of at-bats, there was nothing illegal happening.
