TAMPA — Aaron Judge is the game’s best position player and has been for at least a half-decade, so of course baseball has to be considered his greatest talent. But a close second might be his ability to disregard outside noise, much of which borders on nasty.
Judge does receive the accolades due an all-time great, of course. Yet he continues to be overcriticized and underappreciated.
As ridiculous as it may seem, enough idiots booed Judge after he struck out against the Orioles in a spring training game Friday that the sound was clearly heard inside a closed press box.
That shameful episode served as an apt capper to a week when Judge was hit for suggesting the atmosphere around the World Baseball Classic was “bigger and better” than the World Series (it may be!). He was targeted again after taking an 0-for-4 collar in the WBC finale as Team USA — which he captained — lost to Team Venezuela after playing very well through the semifinals.
