TAMPA, Fla. _ Looks like Aaron Judge was a one-hit wonder when it comes to the Home Run Derby.
"I'm leaning toward not doing it," Judge said early Thursday morning, shortly after arriving at Steinbrenner Field. "One and done is good for me."
The 25-year-old Judge, who hit a rookie-record 52 homers last season, didn't 100 percent rule out participating in it again, but strongly indicated his decision was final.
"I'm Home Run Derby champion, it was a cool experience, I enjoyed it all, but I don't think I really need to go out there and do it again," Judge said. "I won it once."
Judge entered last year's event as the favorite and electrified the crowd, as well as All-Stars from both leagues who sat spellbound on the sidelines, in Miami last July en route to winning the title. He put on a show in each of his three rounds and, overall, hit four homers that surpassed 500 feet, including a 513-footer.
In the three previous years those measurements were kept, no one had surpassed 500 feet. Giancarlo Stanton, now Judge's teammate but then with the Marlins, had come the closest when he launched one 497 feet in 2016 in San Diego. Judge was denied a homer when one moonshot clipped the rafters in Marlins Park in left-center, an area that had never before seen a baseball, locals said.
But Judge stumbled badly after last year's All-Star break, hitting .179/.346/.344 with seven homers and 16 RBIs.
Many, citing nothing but hypothesis, blamed the Derby for the skid, though Judge acknowledged early this spring a bulky left shoulder, which would require surgery last November, bothered him more than he let on.
"Everyone always talks about the Derby will do that, but it really didn't have an effect on that," Judge said.
Judge did recover in September to hit 15 homers and post a 1.352 OPS.
Asked if the combination of the Derby and the bulky left shoulder _ which he initially banged up in May of last year, something that would eventually require surgery and impacted his second half slump _ Judge said, "I'd rather not say."
He did not commit to the event until the last moment last year, and while it would be incorrect to say he was pressured to participate by Major League Baseball, it would not be wrong to say the league, and its television partners, were thrilled he did.
Asked Thursday about MLB possibly reaching out to him to reconsider, Judge said: "Even if they reached out, it's up to me and my decision and what I think is best for me. But like I said, that's the last thing on my mind right now is the Derby. Can't really give you a good comment on that."
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, aware of how MLB feels about executives offering opinions, other than positive ones, on its premiere events, smiled when Judge's comments were relayed to him.
"My job is to get as many Home Run Derby candidates as I can find," Cashman said. "That's all I'll continue to do. How it plays out ... every year is different."
This year's All-Star Game is in Washington and, rest assured, based on their reactions last season during the event, Judge's fellow All-Stars will be at least slightly disappointed if he doesn't participate.
"I've never seen anything like that," former Yankee, and former Derby champion, Robinson Cano said wide-eyed in the American League clubhouse in Miami afterward. "Not only the home runs, but to go opposite field so many times. He made this ballpark look like nothing. I thought I'd seen it all before, but he's something else. He didn't even look tired."
