Aaron Judge is in Los Angeles tonight for his fourth All-Star game appearance.
Ahead of the star-studded event, longtime ESPN MLB insider Marly Rivera put Judge on the spot with a tough question about his future with the New York Yankees organization.
She relayed a question from a young fan named Jacob:
“Are you telling me that Aaron Judge may not be a Yankee after this year?”
Judge’s response didn’t exactly inspire confidence regarding a potential return to New York in 2023.
No. 99 took a long pause to think about his answer before responding.
“Jacob, buddy. We’ve got a lot of great Yankees on this team. There’s a lot of great Yankees that will be here for a long time,” he said. “Don’t be upset. Hopefully you’ll be a Judge fan for life.”
Judge is set to enter free agency at the end of the 2022 season. Before the start of this year’s campaign, the 30-year-old star reportedly turned down a $213.5 million contract offer from the Yankees organization — leading many to wonder whether this will be his final season in New York.
That being said, Judge said he hopes to play for the Yankees for “a long time” earlier this week.
Judge is in the midst of an MVP-caliber season with a league-leading 33 home runs and 70 RBI on a .284 batting average.