BFFs? Judge, Rizzo forming bond as Yankees

This story was excerpted from Bryan Hoch’s Yankees Beat publication. To learn the complete publication, click on right here. And subscribe to get it usually in your inbox.

Aaron Judge recollects watching Anthony Rizzo curiously throughout their first few weeks as teammates, observing the veteran first baseman’s detailed preparation routine and the way his persona would match into the Yankees’ clubhouse.

“This was a guy that just got traded away from a great franchise to the New York Yankees, and we’re on a playoff run,” Judge stated. “It was like, ‘How’s this guy going to handle himself?’ He stepped right into that role of being a leader from Day 1. That was one thing that I picked up a lot from Anthony.”

Judge delved deep into his ideas on management as a part of a webinar collection for his ALL RISE Foundation this week, chatting for an hour with Rizzo.

In an look on NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” Judge steered that Rizzo could have been the Yankees’ secret weapon in accelerating his contract negotiations with the Bombers, pushing Judge to stay in New York with each day cellphone calls and textual content messages that included snapshots of their lovely dachshunds roaming the Yankee Stadium outfield collectively.

The friendship between Judge and Rizzo developed rapidly in 2021, when Rizzo was acquired midseason from the Cubs, and so they turned additional bonded throughout Judge’s record-setting summer time of ’22. That positioned Rizzo in a novel place to assist counsel Judge throughout his free-agency interval.

“Every team wanted him, and rightfully so,” Rizzo stated. “I just remember talking him through the process. There was a point in the zero hour where it was starting to get a little dicey. I want to play with Aaron. Sam and Emily, our wives, get along great. Our dogs get along great. It’s a great relationship. You give friendly advice: ‘Hey, what’s going to make you happy?’”

As Judge prepares to tackle the challenges of serving as the sixteenth captain in franchise historical past, he stated some features of Rizzo’s management will play an element. Judge added that when a brand new face enters the room, like Rizzo did in 2021, he feels a duty to make first contact.

“Whether it’s a rookie that just got called up or somebody we traded for, I want to go over there, introduce myself and kind of try to be a familiar face,” Judge stated. “You say, ‘Hey, I’m Aaron. Great to meet you. If you’ve got any questions, you need anything, come to me. We’re all on the same team. We’re all working together.’”