NEW YORK — Nine years ago Wednesday, two young Yankees prospects stepped into Yankee Stadium for their first major league at-bats. What happened next created baseball history and set two very different career paths in motion.
Aaron Judge and Tyler Austin became the first teammates to hit back-to-back home runs in their MLB debuts on August 13, 2016. Today, their journeys tell contrasting stories of American baseball success.
The circumstances of their debut day made headlines beyond baseball. It was a “boiling” hot Saturday afternoon with a game-time temperature of 95 degrees, according to Yankees radio announcer John Sterling.
The call-ups came one day after Alex Rodriguez played his final game for the Yankees, marking the end of an era. Austin and Aaron Judge responded with back to back home runs, their firsts, assuring the Yankees 8-4 win over the Rays. Both prospects received extended looks during the final seven weeks of a playoff-less season.
“It was exciting,” Judge then told MLB.com. “Tyler went out there and he got down, 0-2, really quick, but he battled and had a great at-bat and was able to hit one out. I was ecstatic on deck and I was like, ‘I’ve just got to make contact now.'”
Judge establishes himself as baseball’s premier slugger
Nine seasons later, Judge has transformed from promising prospect to the sport’s most dominant power hitter. His 353 home runs through Wednesday are 43 more than any other player since his debut. Only five players have hit within 100 of Judge’s total.
The Yankees captain leads all of baseball with 58.6 wins above replacement (WAR), towering over Jose Ramirez’s 51.4, which ranks second, according to FanGraphs.
Judge’s debut homer traveled 446 feet to center field off Tampa Bay’s Matt Andriese. The blast immediately followed Austin’s solo shot down the right-field line.
Austin finds success in Japan after MLB struggles
While Judge became a Bronx icon, Tyler Austin took a different path. After bouncing between four MLB teams from 2016-2019, the Georgia native found his home across the Pacific Ocean.
Austin currently plays for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Nippon Professional Baseball. The 32-year-old first baseman has become a star in Japan’s Central League.
Austin won the NPB batting title in 2024, edging out Tokyo Yakult Swallows outfielder Domingo Santana with a .316 average. He also contributed 25 home runs and 69 RBIs while playing 106 games.
Austin represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, where the team won silver after losing to Japan in the gold medal game.
Austin’s MLB career included stops with the Minnesota Twins, San Francisco Giants and Milwaukee Brewers after the Yankees traded him in 2018. He struggled with consistency, batting .241 with five home runs in his first season while striking out 36 times in 90 plate appearances.
Over 209 MLB games and 583 plate appearances from 2016-19, Austin displayed solid power with 33 homers and a .451 slugging percentage but struggled with a .219 career average and .292 on-base percentage.
Austin signed with Yokohama in November 2019 after electing free agency rather than accepting an outright assignment to Milwaukee’s Triple-A affiliate.
In 37 games during the 2025 season, Austin posts a .244 batting average alongside a .336 on-base percentage and .420 slugging percentage for a .756 OPS. He splits time between first base and corner outfield positions. Far from his Yankees origins, Austin has crafted a meaningful career chapter that eludes many former major leaguers.
Current status in 2025
Judge continues his pursuit of a second consecutive American League MVP award. Despite a flexor strain that recently placed him on the injured list, Judge leads the majors in several offensive categories and remains on pace for another historic campaign.
Austin remains active with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars, wearing uniform number 3 as an infielder for the 2025 NPB season. The team reached the Japan Series in 2024, though they fell to the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.
Austin has embraced life in Japan, calling Yokohama home and expressing his love for the city and its people in a 2023 Players’ Tribune article.
Legacy of a Yankees historic moment
The back-to-back homers remain one of baseball’s most remarkable debut moments. Tony Peña, the Yankees’ first-base coach, retrieved Austin’s home run ball after it bounced off the first row of right-field seats.
Judge joined Russell Branyan and Carlos Correa as the only players to send a ball over the glass panels above Monument Park at Yankee Stadium.
Nine years later, both players have found success in their own ways. Judge has become the face of the Yankees and one of baseball’s biggest stars. Austin discovered a second baseball life in Japan, winning a batting title and representing his country in the Olympics.
Their August 2016 debut remains a testament to baseball’s unpredictable nature and the different paths to professional success. From that sweltering Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium, two careers launched in dramatically different but ultimately successful directions.
The historic Yankees moment serves as a reminder that in baseball, greatness can be measured in many ways — whether dominating in the Bronx or thriving across the Pacific Ocean.
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