CINCINNATI -- It is impact that has come both in beautiful blasts but also more subtle strides. Aaron Judge's raw power broke both a rookie record with 13 homers in his team's first 26 games and an unsuspecting flat-screen TV, and his surname has inspired a litany of legal-themed groaners.
But don't let the big power or the bad puns distract you from the small means by which he has become the most valuable player on the surprisingly unstoppable Yankees.
Judge -- a player whose ceiling had seemed somewhat limited (ironically) by his tall body, ample strike zone and huge strikeout rate in his small big league sample last season -- has had as large an individual impact as any player in the Majors in the first month of action.