Red Sox icon sounds alarm over Yankees’ Aaron Judge: ‘Not the same I saw last year’

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Rival Red Sox legend Pedro Martinez issues a chilling warning about Yankees captain Aaron Judge.

Aaron Judge is rewriting the script in the Bronx — and even his old rivals are taking notice. Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martinez, once one of the fiercest competitors against the New York Yankees, recently issued a statement that both praises and warns about the direction Judge is heading.

“He’s even more dangerous now than he was when he had 60+ homers,” Martinez posted on social media. “He has improved and matured, and looks better.”

“He’s not the same Aaron Judge I saw last year,” he added. “He has made the adjustments to go to the opposite field and it shows in his average.”

Coming from a Red Sox legend with 219 wins and three Cy Young Awards, those words are not said lightly. And they reflect just how terrifying Judge has become for opposing pitchers in 2025.

A refined Aaron Judge is dominating 2025

Through the first 36 games of the season, Aaron Judge has been baseball’s most fearsome bat. The 33-year-old slugger is slashing an eye-popping .412/.503/.772 with 12 home runs, 34 RBIs, and a 1.275 OPS. He leads the league in nearly every major offensive category — including hits (56), runs (34), and total bases (105). His current WAR sits at 3.1, best in Major League Baseball.

Judge’s power is expected. But it’s the refinement in his approach that’s catching eyes. He’s spraying the ball more efficiently across the field. His opposite-field hit rate sits at 23.5% — slightly below his 2024 rate, but still far above his 2022 MVP campaign. His 56.9% hard-hit rate and 23.5% barrel rate demonstrate not just contact, but punishing contact.

Martinez’s words align with what the data shows: Judge isn’t just swinging for the fences. He’s dismantling game plans.

Carrying the Yankees on his back

The New York Yankees, now 20–16 and leading the AL East, are benefiting from Judge’s historic run. But they’re also depending on it more than most fans might realize.

According to Codify Baseball, if you remove Judge’s offensive numbers from the Yankees’ team totals, their league-leading batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage would drop dramatically — to 14th, 11th, and third, respectively. That staggering stat underlines how much of the Yankees’ early-season firepower is being driven by No. 99.

While names like Paul Goldschmidt and Trent Grisham have stepped up in stretches, the consistency has come from one place: Judge’s bat.

Chasing history, again

Judge is no stranger to MVP talk, and if he continues at this pace, a third American League MVP trophy is almost inevitable. With his 3.1 WAR already on the board, he’s on pace for a 13.9 WAR season — a mark that would trail only Babe Ruth’s legendary 1923 campaign (14.2 WAR) in single-season history.

He’s also made AL history in another way. Before this season, no player in the American League had ever recorded at least 50 hits, 75 times on base, and 85 total bases before May. Judge accomplished all three.

According to Underdog Fantasy’s Justin Havens, Judge joins an elite group — only four other players in the Wild Card era have posted a .400+ batting average, 1.250+ OPS, and 12+ homers through 36 games. Three of those four went on to win MVPs: Larry Walker (1997), Joe Mauer (2009), and Cody Bellinger (2019). Judge seems destined to follow suit.

Martinez’s famous reversal

Perhaps the most intriguing subplot to this saga is the messenger. Pedro Martinez, once a villain in the Bronx and author of the infamous “Yankees are my daddy” line, has become an unlikely admirer of Judge.

In a lighthearted follow-up tweet, Martinez joked, “This is not the same Judge I faced in my dreams. This guy is the boss now.” It’s a stark contrast from their heated rivalry days — and serves as an unofficial passing of the torch from one legend to another.

Martinez added, “He’s not the same Aaron Judge I saw last year. He has made the adjustments to go to the opposite field and it shows in his average.” It’s rare for Hall of Fame pitchers to offer this level of praise unprompted, and it says everything about the respect the Yankees slugger is earning.

The concern behind the compliment

While Martinez’s tone was celebratory, it wasn’t without an edge. There’s a subtle warning in his admiration. Judge is so dominant that the Yankees may be leaning on him too heavily. Without him, New York’s offense would fall back to the middle of the pack. And in a long 162-game season, that dependency poses a risk.

Injuries, fatigue, and slumps are part of the game. If anything derails Judge’s 2025 campaign, the Yankees’ offensive structure could come crashing down.

That’s the “ominous” part of Martinez’s praise. As awe-inspiring as Judge is, the team around him will need to shoulder more of the load as the season grinds on.

With MVP-level production and praise coming from every corner of the baseball world — even Boston’s — Aaron Judge is once again reminding fans, analysts, and rivals that he’s not just the face of the Yankees. He may be the face of Major League Baseball in 2025.

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