Ferguson Faces Judge: A Lesson Learned

Tyler Ferguson has gathered some insights about knowing what you really want.

Last year, he mentioned to a local TV station that he aimed to challenge Aaron Judge. But it wasn’t until Sunday that he finally got his chance.

When the moment arrived, one of baseball’s finest hitters put Ferguson in his place a bit.

Judge smashed a 426-foot, 95.5 mph fastball into the left field wall during the seventh inning, pushing the Yankees to a 12-5 victory. That was the final score for the Bronx team.

After the home run, Yes Network’s Ryan Ruko referred to Judge as the “King of Fresno,” with analyst Jeff Nelson discussing it as a cautionary tale.

“That’s why you keep your comments to yourself,” Nelson remarked during the broadcast. “You don’t talk publicly about wanting to challenge a judge.”

After the game, Ferguson acknowledged Judge’s prowess.

“He’s the best hitter in the league,” Ferguson stated, as reported by the Associated Press. “I was looking forward to facing him. But I struggled a bit to get the ball where I wanted, and he took advantage of it.”

Originally hailing from Fresno, California, Ferguson was a sophomore there in 2012.

Judge mentioned after the Yankees’ win that he was aware of Ferguson that day but had no idea about last year’s comments.

Ferguson then reflected on his memories of Judge.

“I didn’t catch many Fresno games, but I remember him being a big deal, clearly a standout player,” Ferguson noted.

On that day, Judge hit two home runs, marking the 44th multi-home run game of his career. This performance brought him to 30 home runs this season, putting him ahead of Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani and behind only Cal Ripken among the league’s top hitters.