TAMPA, Fla. -- Aaron Judge didn't see many pitches to hit in his two plate appearances against Orioles starter Miguel Castro on Wednesday night -- walking in both trips to the plate.
His third and fifth plate apperances were a different story.
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The designated hitter belted two home runs, his second and third of the spring, while helping the Yankees to a 9-4 victory over the Orioles at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
Having played the full game, Judge was glad to get the additional reps in now rather than waiting until the season starts.
"[Manager Aaron Boone] kind of mentioned to most of us that we'd be playing all nine," Judge said. "Try to get us ramped up to play all nine so that we can get used to that and see how our bodies feel now, instead of playing our first nine Opening Day and seeing how the body feels the next day."
In the fourth inning, Judge ripped a solo homer to right-center field off O's lefty Jason Gurka. He grounded out in the sixth against Nestor Cortes Jr., but in the eighth, after back-to-back singles by Abiatal Avelino and Brett Gardner, Judge took Cortes deep to left-center field for a three-run shot.
This year, Judge is going to find himself in a bit of a different role than what he grew accustomed to last season. Boone is excited about the group of power bats at his disposal and feels that despite eclipsing the 50-homer mark a year ago, Judge is an ideal two-hole hitter for this team.
"Yeah, I mean, I think he's going to be on base a ton," Boone said. "So, yeah, I love him there."
Judge, last year's American League Rookie of the Year Award winner, won't let his 2017 success get in the way of his focus for 2018.
"It doesn't carry over," Judge said. "You know, your stats from last year -- I wish it carried over. I wouldn't mind starting out with 52 homers, but that's the thing, nobody cares about last year. Once it's Opening Day everybody starts the same, so I gotta go out there, do better, put the work in and do my job."