NEW YORK, NY (Associated Press) – Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees agreed to a one-year, $19 million contract, avoiding an arbitration hearing scheduled for Friday.
Judge can make an additional $250,000 by winning an MVP Award and $250,000 for World Series MVP, according to multiple reports and confirmed by ESPN.
Judge is in the middle of perhaps his best season, batting .304 with 27 homers and 53 RBIs in 68 games for the major league-leading Yankees. He hit a game-winning RBI single in New York’s 7-6 victory over Houston on Thursday night.
Judge and the Yankees were scheduled for an arbitration hearing. No statistics or evidence from after March 1 were admissible other than contract and salary comparisons, timing set when Major League Baseball and the players’ association agreed to the deal that ended the lockout.
On the eve of this season, Judge turned down a $213.5 million contract offer from the Yankees, choosing instead to leave open the possibility that he could become a free agent this fall.