How Aaron Judge’s momentous home run was ‘better than a perfect swing’

NEW YORK — Fans will buzz about the home run for a long time, what it meant for the score, possibly the series and certainly for Aaron Judge’s reputation. Inside the New York Yankees clubhouse, Judge’s teammates were buzzing, too. But not just about the impact of Judge’s game-tying, three-run shot in the Yankees’ 9-6 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.

It was the swing. A swing that left the players dumbfounded, if not in outright awe, and helped spare the Yankees from elimination in a best-of-five series they now trail, two games to one.

“The best swing I’ve ever seen, definitely in person, maybe all time,” first baseman Paul Goldschmidt said.

Goldschmidt, 38, is a 15-year veteran, seven-time All-Star and former MVP. He also is one of the most understated players in the game, not given to hyperbole. And he could barely grasp what Judge did with one out in the fourth inning.

Nor could the Jays reliever who gave up Judge’s homer, right-hander Louis Varland.

“He made a really good pitch look bad,” Varland said.

Judge hit a 99.7-mph fastball from Varland on an 0-2 count. Pulled his hands close enough to his body to get to a pitch that, according to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs, it was 1.2 feet from the center of the plate inside. Kept the ball straight enough to strike the foul pole as if, in Judge’s words, it was guided by ghosts.

“Those pitches don’t get hit, let alone that high off the foul pole, staying straight for that long,” Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton said.

Surely other hitters could manage the same feat.

“Show me video of another,” Stanton said.

“I know one for sure who could do it, and that’s about it,” Yankees third baseman Ryan McMahon added.

Stanton and McMahon had a point: According to Langs, it was the first time since the start of the pitch-tracking era in 2008 that a hitter had homered off a 99-plus mph pitch that also was that far inside.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone mentioned Hall of Famer Edgar Martinez and Manny Ramirez as two other hitters who possibly could have hit Varland’s pitch. Goldschmidt named future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera as another.

Injured Yankees right-hander Gerrit Cole cited a current player as well. Tapping on his iPad, he pulled up video of a home run he said was similar — one he allowed on April 13, 2022, to none other than Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Cole’s 98.5-mph fastball was not as hard as Varland’s and perhaps not as far inside. The exit velocity on Guerrero’s homer was higher than Judge’s, 109.1 mph to 103.1, and the ball went to left field, not down the line. But Judge’s feat still might have been more impressive. At 6-foot-7, he is seven inches taller than Guerrero, with longer arms, making it harder for him to get to a pitch that far inside.

Oh, and lest we forget, Game 3 of a Division Series, with your team facing an embarrassing exit, bears little resemblance to a game in early April. On the verge of getting swept, the Yankees fell behind the Jays, 6-1, with Guerrero hitting his third homer in three games. They still trailed, 6-3, when Judge stepped to the plate.

Judge at that moment was 10-for-20 in the postseason, but his only extra-base hits were two doubles. Guerrero’s two big moments over the weekend at Rogers Centre — his first-inning home run in Game 1 and his grand slam in Game 2 — arguably were more memorable than anything Judge had done in eight postseasons.

Yes, Judge now has hit six home runs when facing elimination, tying David Ortiz for the most in postseason history.

None, though, resonated like this one.

Judge consulted with Stanton before his at-bat, seeking a “brush-up” on Varland, who he had not faced since April 14, 2023, when the righty was a starter with the Twins. He fouled off Varland’s first pitch, a knuckle-curve. Varland then blew a 100-mph fastball down the middle past him for strike two.

At that point, Judge said, Varland has “got all the leverage. He’s probably in attack mode, is what I’m thinking. You’ve got to attack that head on. You can’t be passive or try to be scared in the box.”

Judge wasn’t passive. But he didn’t swing at a strike. Which, this season, was not all that unusual for him. His chase rate jumped from 17.7 percent in 2024 to 22.3 percent in ‘25, the second highest of his career. And in Game 1 of this series, he swung at ball four on a 3-2 splitter from Kevin Gausman with the bases loaded, none out and the Yankees, trailing, 2-0, in the sixth inning.

“I get yelled at for swinging at them out of the zone, but now I’m getting praised for it,” Judge said.

Well, that and a few other things. Asked to explain mechanically what it takes to get to a pitch like the one Varland threw, Judge said, “We’d be here all night.” Yankees first baseman Ben Rice didn’t require that much time. Rice said he couldn’t hit a pitch thrown that hard and that far inside with any kind of impact. Judge could, Rice said, because of his strength and “really clean swing.”

To Judge, the biggest thing is timing.

“That’s what a lot of hitting comes down to,” he said. “If you’re not ready to swing and ready early, you’re not going to hit anything. After he blew my doors off on the pitch before, I said just get ready, see a good pitch and drive it.”

As if it were that simple. As if other hitters who weren’t all-time greats could have gotten to Varland’s fastball.

“I couldn’t believe it stayed fair,” Cole said. “It obviously didn’t have much hook to it, at all. He really got out in front and then stayed through it. He didn’t hit it as much on the barrel as he hits some of them. But it was pure stroke, right through the ball.”

Goldschmidt, who worked out with Judge during the 2022-23 offseason while still a member of the St. Louis Cardinals, was utterly stunned by his teammate’s feat.

“It was obviously a big homer to tie the game. I think I was almost more in shock that he hit that pitch and kept it fair and hit the home run,” Goldschmidt said.

“If it had been a 2-0 fastball out over the middle of the plate, you come to expect that. You’re excited in the moment. It was a huge moment. But seeing it live, you can tell the pitch was a perfect pitch. And it was maybe better than a perfect swing.”

Better than perfect? Seems impossible. But then, we’re talking about Aaron Judge.