Yankees' Aaron Judge Says Pitch Clock is 'Gonna Be a Good Thing for Everybody'

Aaron Judge is the latest MLB superstar to come out in support of some of MLB's newest rules. The reigning AL MVP told media Sunday that he believes the implementation of the pitch clock will end up benefitting the entire league.

"I think this pitch clock is gonna be a good thing for everybody," Judge said, according to ESPN's Marly Rivera.

Although he's only had one at-bat during spring training—so, a very small sample size working with the pitch clock—Judge was successful, getting a hit in his first plate appearance of 2023.

It'll be interesting to see how much the pitch clock affects Judge's process at the plate, if at all. He has been one of the most dominant hitters in the league since his rookie year in 2017.

In 2022 he broke the AL record for home runs in a single season with 62. Judge also led the Yankees in batting average (.311), RBI (131), on-base percentage (.425) and hits (177) last season.

Albeit a small sample size, the pitch clock has already made an impact in the early goings of spring training this year. Its biggest moment came late in a game between the Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves after Braves batter Cal Conley didn't get set in time and was called out on a pitch clock violation in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded.

It also affected one of the league's other superstars, San Diego's Manny Machado, who was the first player to be called for a violation.

The rules for the pitch clock are relatively straightforward. A pitcher has 15 seconds to throw a pitch with empty bases—20 seconds with bases occupied. Meanwhile, the batter must be in the box and set with no less than eight seconds remaining on the clock.