The Aaron Judge sign-stealing controversy doesn’t hold up under scrutiny. Check out Aaron Judge stealing signs and side eye here.

Aaron Judge : Stealing signs | Side eye | Cheating

When Judge was first asked about what he might have been looking at, he seemed to not know what the reporter was talking about.

Aaron Judge : Stealing signs | Side eye | Cheating

“For when?” Judge said.

After the slugger was asked again, he laughed a little to himself. He said that his Yankees teammates were still yelling at plate umpire Clint Vondrak, who had ejected manager Aaron Boone during Judge’s at-bat.

Judge said he simply wanted them to shut up so that could hit in peace, and that he was looking at the dugout to see which mouths were still running.

“It was kind of a lot of chirping from our dugout,” he said, according to a clip posted to Twitter by the YES Network, “which I really didn’t like in a situation where it’s a 6-nothing game and I know Boonie got tossed.

I was trying to save Boonie by calling a timeout, like, ‘Hey, hold up here. Let me work here.’ I was kind of trying to see who was chirping in the dugout. It’s 6-nothing. Boonie got tossed, let’s go to work now.”

Aaron Judge stealing signs 

Aaron Judge said he was trying to identify which of his Yankees teammates was yelling at plate umpire Clint Vondrak when he peeked into his own dugout before hitting a 462-foot home run in Toronto on Monday night.

The Yankees slugger looked sideways for a moment before driving a 114.9 mph scorcher off right-hander Jay Jackson.

“There was kind of a lot of chirping from our dugout, which I really didn’t like in the situation,” Judge said. New York led 6-0 at the time.

Three pitches earlier, Vondrak ejected New York manager Aaron Boone for arguing a low strike call to Judge. Boone came out of the dugout to vent at Vondrak and crew chief James Hoye.

Toronto’s broadcasters noticed Judge peeking into his own dugout before his homer and speculated he was looking for some kind of signal.

“It’s kind of odd that a hitter would be looking in that direction,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said.

Judge said some of his teammates were still voicing their displeasure as his at-bat continued.

“I feel like after the manager does his thing it’s like, “Fellas, our pitcher has still got to go out there and make some pitches. We’ve got the lead, let’s just go to work here,’” Judge said. “I said a couple of things to some guys in the dugout and especially after the game. Hopefully it won’t happen again.”

Boone said he understood Judge’s frustration with the dugout distraction.

“Judgie was kind of looking over like, ‘I’m hitting here,’” Boone said.

Aaron Judge Side eye

New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge was not happy Toronto Blue Jays broadcasters Dan Shulman and Buck Martinez even hinted at the possibility he was cheating during Monday’s game, but the team reportedly doesn’t have to worry about an investigation.

Aaron Judge : Stealing signs | Side eye | Cheating

“I’m not happy about it, but people can say what they want,” Judge said, per Yankees reporter Bryan Hoch. “I’ve still got a game to play. I’ve got things to do.”

According to Hoch, New York discussed the situation with Major League Baseball and does not expect an ensuing investigation.

“Nothing that went on last night was against the rules,” manager Aaron Boone said.

Michael Dixon of Awful Announcing noted Shulman and Martinez were calling the game for Sportsnet and pointed out Judge appeared to look at something in the dugout during an at-bat that ended in a home run.

“Once again, he’s looking at something, then the next move is that powerful swing, and he blasts one to center field,” Martinez said. “I’ve not seen that before with him. I’ve not ever seen that.”

Sign-stealing has been a major topic in baseball in recent years, especially in regards to the Houston Astros and their run to the 2017 World Series title.

MLB fined the Astros $5 million, stripped them of their first- and second-round draft picks in 2020 and 2021, and suspended then-general manager Jeff Luhnow and then-manager AJ Hinch for one year. Houston fired Luhnow and Hinch in the aftermath of the punishments.

Is cheating 

Yankees slugger Aaron Judge came under fire Monday night after the Blue Jays’ television broadcast crew implied he might have been cheating during an at-bat.

Aaron Judge : Stealing signs | Side eye | Cheating

On Tuesday, Judge responded to those allegations, indicating he was angry about the implication but remains focused on his own game. 

Via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, New York’s star outfielder said he has some “choice words” about the cheating insinuation from Toronto’s broadcast team, but he opted against sharing those words with reporters.

The controversy arose when Judge could be seen looking to the side just before facing a pitch from reliever Jay Jackson.

The broadcast booth insinuated that Judge was cheating and potentially stealing signs from the Blue Jays during his at-bat, which culminated with a 462-foot home run.

After the game, Judge attempted to clear the air, telling reporters that he actually was looking over at his teammates in the dugout who had been chirping at the umpire despite the Yankees’ holding a 6-0 lead.

Blue Jays manager John Schneider said Tuesday that the organization has contacted MLB regarding the situation, raising concern about the positioning of the Yankees’ base coaches.

MLB does not intend to investigate the situation, per Greg Joyce of the New York Post, deeming there were not any indications of a rules violation during Monday night’s game.

By Rishabh

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *