When asked if there was a player Aaron Judge reminded him of from his playing or coaching days, it didn't take Athletics manager Mark Kotsay very long to respond.
"Yeah, his name is Barry Bonds," Kotsay told reporters at the Oakland Coliseum before the A's game against the New York Yankees on Saturday. "That's it. That's the name."
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Kotsay was then asked if the Yankees outfielder is on his way to being on the next level of superstardom.
"He's already there," Kotsay said. "Everybody gravitates to Judge right now and he's got the personality that people want to gravitate to him, which makes him, in my book, just a higher [level] baseball player that really is a complete package."
Judge, who will be a free agent this winter, is having an all-time 2022 MLB season and is the frontrunner to win the American League MVP award. On Friday night, he crushed his 49th homer of the season in the Yankees' 3-2 win over the A's. The three-run blast gave Judge an MLB-leading 109 RBI.
Bonds arguably is one of the best hitters in the history of baseball and is the greatest slugger of all-time, finishing his legendary career with a record 762 home runs.
San Francisco Giants
Judge has a chance to follow in Bonds' footsteps this offseason if he decides to leave an East Coast team to sign a free-agent contract with the Giants. Bonds left the Pittsburgh Pirates after seven years in the big leagues and played the final 15 years of his career in San Francisco.
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Coincidentally, Judge is in his seventh season with the Yankees. Judge, also like Bonds, grew up in Northern California, having attended Linden High School, which is just east of Stockton.
If Judge does decide to sign with the Giants as a free agent, Kotsay will get an up-close look at the player who reminds him of Bonds.