A’s pitcher voicing desire to strike out Aaron Judge backfires spectacularly: ‘Keep it to yourself’

Tyler Ferguson learned the hard way to be careful what you wish for. 

The Athletics’ pitcher had told a local TV station last year that he wanted to strike out Aaron Judge, but didn’t get the chance to face him until Sunday.

When that opportunity came, one of the best hitters in baseball humbled Ferguson a bit. 

Judge sent a 95.5 mph four-seam fastball 426 feet over the left field wall in the bottom of the seventh inning to put the Yankees up 12-5, which was the final score in The Bronx. 

The blast allowed YES Network broadcaster Ryan Ruocco to dub Judge “The King of Fresno” and analyst and former reliever Jeff Nelson pointed to it as a cautionary tale.

“That’s why you don’t talk in public,” Nelson said on air. “You don’t make a comment that I want to strike out Judge in public. You keep it to yourself.”

Ferguson complimented Judge after the game.

“Best hitter in the league,” Ferguson told reporters, according to the Associated Press. “So I was looking forward to that at-bat. I was able to get ahead and then wasn’t able to execute a couple of pitches and he was able to get it back to 3-2 and I didn’t get the ball quite as high as I would have liked and he made a good swing on it.”

Ferguson hails from Fresno, California and graduated from Clovis West High School at the same time Judge was a sophomore at Fresno State in 2012.

Judge told reporters after the Yankees win that he was aware of Ferguson from back in the day, but didn’t know about the comment that he made last year. 

Ferguson remembered Judge from then, too. 

“I didn’t go to a lot of Fresno State games, but I just remember him being a highly touted prospect and obviously a large human being very recognizable,” Ferguson said, “but it’s impressive how he’s continued to just get better and better as he’s gotten older.”

Judge hit two home runs on Sunday and marked the 44th multi-home run game of his career. 

The blast in the seventh inning also was Judge’s 30th of the season, moving him ahead of Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani and behind only Cal Raleigh for most in the majors this season.