ARLINGTON, Texas — He was at Aaron Judge‘s bachelor party in Scottsdale. The just designated Yankees teammate was a groomsman at Judge’s Hawaii wedding in December 2021. He even tried to steal the biggest free agent in baseball away from the Yankees in May 2022. Tyler Wade was one of the people closest to the New York Yankees captain during the most important chapter of Judge’s career.
This week, Wade’s own chapter took a painful turn. The Texas Rangers granted the 31-year-old utility player his release after he failed to earn a major league call-up from Triple-A Round Rock. It was seventh organization for the ex-Yankees player in as many years and another door closing on a career that has run out of easy answers.
Judge, meanwhile, leads the major leagues in home runs in 2026 and has 377 career homers. He is still the captain of the Yankees. The gap between them has never been wider.
Two friends, two paths from the same draft class
Wade and Judge were drafted by the Yankees in the same 2013 class. Judge went 32nd overall in the first round. Wade was picked in the fourth round, 134th overall, out of a California high school. They came up through the minor league system together and became genuine friends, not just teammates.
Their bond was real enough that Wade was present for the most personal moments of Judge’s life. In late November 2021, Wade posted photos from what was widely identified as Judge’s bachelor party in Scottsdale, Arizona. Three weeks later, on December 11, he stood in the wedding party as Judge married Samantha Bracksieck in a private ceremony at the Montage Kapalua Bay hotel in Lahaina, Hawaii.
Tyler Wade spent parts of five major league seasons in the Bronx from 2017 through 2021. He was a useful bench piece: quick, versatile and one of the Yankees’ better baserunning options. But his bat was always thin. In 264 games in pinstripes, he hit .212 with six home runs and 30 stolen bases.
After the 2021 season, the New York Yankees designated him for assignment and shipped him to the Angels for a player to be named later.
The dinner that went viral
Six months later, in May 2022, Wade sat down for dinner with Judge in New York the night before a Yankees-Angels series. Judge was in the middle of a record-breaking season heading toward free agency. Wade, now an Angel, saw an opportunity to make a joke that landed louder than he probably expected.
When reporters asked whether he had tried to sell Judge on Anaheim, Wade did not deny it.
“Yeah, you never know, I might have planted a couple of seeds. He’s having a great year. I’m happy for him. He deserves everything that’s coming to him,” the formers Yankees player said, per the Los Angeles Times.
The seeds never grew. Judge re-signed with the Yankees in December 2022 on a nine-year, $360 million contract. Wade was already gone by then. The Angels had designated him for assignment in July 2022. The Yankees briefly reacquired him for a Triple-A stint that same summer before he left as a free agent in October.
Rangers release, seventh organization
The path since has been a long one. Wade signed a minor-league deal with Oakland after 2022, then joined the San Diego Padres for two seasons. In 283 plate appearances with San Diego across 2024 and 2025, the ex-Yankees infielder hit .212 with a .245 slugging percentage. The Padres declined his $1 million option in November 2025 and paid him a $50,000 buyout.
Texas signed him to a minor-league deal in December 2025. Manager Skip Schumaker liked his defensive range in camp but Wade did not break through to the Opening Day roster. The ex-Yankees journeyman started the season at Triple-A Round Rock, hitting .226/.315/.242 with no home runs and six RBI in 16 games. The Rangers released him Monday, per the Dallas Morning News.
His career MLB line now reads .216/.294/.284 in 992 plate appearances, a 65 wRC+ that sits well below league average. He has logged time at five positions: shortstop, second base, third base, left field and center field. Defenders grade him best at second and third. His bat has never given anyone a reason to pencil him in regularly.
Wade is a free agent again, now searching for a eighth club. His speed and versatility still hold value for a team needing late-season bench depth. But the margin shrinks every year.
He was drafted in 2013. So was Judge. They grew up in the same Yankees system, stayed close through the big leagues and remained tight enough that Wade stood in a tuxedo at Judge’s wedding four years ago. Baseball split those roads long before that. It just took this long for the distance to become undeniable.
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