REFLECTING ON JUDGE'S ROOKIE OF THE YEAR AWARD

I'm thankful for a lot of things. As a Yankee fan, I am thankful for Aaron Judge. When Judge won Rookie of the Year, I was pretty happy and I've been thinking about it since.

“I'm still a work in progress; there's a lot of things I need to improve on...”

Those are the words of a guy who just put together a pretty incredible Rookie season.Those are the words of Aaron Judge. If you've read my stuff in the past, you know the soft spot I have for this kid. The reason why is demonstrated in this MLB.com piece:

(Jim McIsaac/Getty)

"The gentle giant from tiny Linden, Calif., claimed the Big Apple as his own, shattering Mark McGwire's rookie record by belting an AL-leading 52 home runs. In 155 games, Judge compiled a .284/.422/.627 slash line, leading the AL in runs (128) and walks (127) while ranking second in RBIs (114), on-base percentage (.422) and slugging percentage (.627). "

I mean think about that. Are you kidding me? How many kids in today's game would have a year like that and still realize that they have areas they need to improve on?

Kathy Willens/AP

Even if they did, how many would have the humility to put it out there to the national media? Aaron Judge has found his home in right field in the Bronx and I believe he will be roaming it wearing pinstripes for quite some time. Will we as fans have to learn to deal with the strikeouts? Absolutely. But it looks to me like he is trying to do something to correct what needs be corrected. Judge joined Ted Williams (1939) as the only player to tally at least 100 runs, 100 RBIs and 100 walks in his rookie season. 

If you love dreamers... if you love new life in the Bronx... embrace Judge.  He's the whole package, folks.

--Michael Carnesi
BYB Writer
Twitter: @sevn4evr