Aaron Judge came to outfielder and teammate Trent Grisham's defense after New York Yankees fans started a "We Want [Juan] Soto" chant while Grisham was up at-bat during the club's 6—4 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday night at Yankee Stadium. Judge, speaking to reporters after the game, classily defended Grisham while politely expressing his displeasure with the Yankees fans' chant.
"You know, Grisham works his butt off every single day," Judge said. "Soto's out right now, he's going to be back soon. He's been carrying this team all year. Anytime you go up against good teams like this, the fans pay to come see us do our thing, they want to see the best out there."
"Soto's going to heal up and be fine, but, man, Grish is a heck of a ballplayer. He showed up tonight in the big moment when we needed him. I wasn't too happy with it," Judge said. "But I think he made a good point, got his point across there with that homer."
Aaron Judge says he "wasn't too happy" with the "We Want Soto" chants at Yankee Stadium, but he credits Trent Grisham for making a point by hitting a home run pic.twitter.com/EXwDPrfFrQ
Soto, an early candidate for the AL MVP award alongside Judge, missed all three games in the series against the Dodgers due to forearm inflammation. Grisham made three starts in center field for New York, effectively taking Soto's place in the lineup.
Yankees fans, wanting to see Soto against one of the best teams in MLB, weren't thrilled about this and began to chant 'We Want Soto' during Grisham's at-bat in the bottom of the sixth inning. Seconds later, Grisham clobbered a three-run home run into the right-field seats to give New York a 5-3 lead at the time. Yankees fans serenaded him with a 'We want Grisham' chant his next time up.
If Grisham was bothered by the Soto chant, he didn't show it. He acknowledged that he heard the Soto chants, then had a great response when asked for his thoughts on the Grisham chants.
""I like those too," he said.
Yes, Trent Grisham heard the "We Want Soto" chants
On the "We Want Grisham" chants that followed?
"I like those too" pic.twitter.com/Ur9dWBDjAo
The Yankees (46-21) next embark on a seven-game road trip, beginning with Monday's game against the Kansas City Royals.
TIM CAPURSO
