KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Aaron Judge’s price tag may be going up.
The Yankees slugger’s torrid stretch continued Sunday afternoon, when he crushed a mammoth 453-foot homer in the top of the first to dead center at Kauffman Stadium as the team looked to win its ninth straight game and sweep the Royals.
The shot, which had an exit velocity of 114 mph, according to Statcast, landed well above the wall in center and was just the latest blast delivered by Judge.
Judge, who turned 30 last month, has now homered in his last three games, four of five and six of eight.
He entered Sunday in a 12-for-35 hot streak over his previous nine games, and his OPS has gone from .733 to 1.014.
It all comes after Judge turned down a seven-year, $213.5 million extension during spring training and can become a free agent following the season.
The $30.5 million AAV was slightly above what Mookie Betts of the Dodgers is due in his 12-year, $365 million deal and trailing only Mike Trout’s $35.54 million AAV in his 12-year, $426.5 million contract with the Angels — the highest all-time for an outfielder.
Judge put an Opening Day deadline on negotiations for an extension and the two sides still have to meet for an arbitration hearing during the regular season due to the MLB lockout. Judge is seeking $21 million for this season, while the Yankees offered $17 million.
“Obviously our intent is to have Aaron Judge stay as a New York Yankee moving forward and I know that’s his intent as well, which is a good thing,” general manager Brian Cashman said on Opening Day, after the two sides failed to come up with a deal. “We’re going to have to be entering those efforts in a new arena, which would be at the end of the season when free agency starts. Maybe that will determine what his real market value will be, because we certainly couldn’t agree at this stage on a contract extension.”
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