Boston Red Sox legend Pedro Martinez faced some of the best hitters in Major League history during his 18-year MLB career, from Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez to Albert Pujols and Ken Griffey Jr.
Despite his relatively small frame for a pitcher, Martinez threw hard and wasn’t afraid of anyone. He wasn’t scared to intimidate batters by pitching inside, plunking 141 of them throughout his Hall of Fame career.
While Martinez never faced New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge, who debuted seven years after he retired, the former Red Sox ace has a pretty good idea of how he’d attack the hulking Yankees slugger.
“High for any other player is not high for Aaron Judge, so you gotta go higher,” Martinez said during WEEI’s radio broadcast of Friday’s Boston-New York game at Fenway Park. “If I wanted to hit him, I would hit him. Straight up.”
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During his playing days, Martinez also said he’d drill Babe Ruth if given the chance, so his quote isn’t surprising. He also targeted Yankees players more often, hitting them more frequently (17 times) than any other team during his career.
Judge is the biggest and best player in baseball, so it makes sense that Martinez would want to intimidate him, especially after watching the two-time AL MVP launch a 468-foot moonshot over the Green Monster in the first inning of New York’s 4-1 win.
Pitching the 6-foot-7 Judge high would be difficult but necessary, according to Martinez. Fans can only wonder how a battle between the two superstars would have unfolded had their careers overlapped, but it probably would’ve been epic.
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