It’s truly wild how chances work. Instead of pinstripes, Aaron Judge could have been wearing white, gold, and green today. He would not have broken a sacred home run record with one of the most popular sports franchises in the world. Instead, the slugger would have been getting ready to say goodbye to Oakland to move to Las Vegas. The New York Yankees would have been without their captain. But then fate intervened.

As of 2023, the Oakland Athletics are playing some of their last games at the Coliseum. In the next few years, owner John Fisher will most likely move them to the Strip, despite heavy fan protest. And standing near the bottom of the league with the other A’s would probably be Aaron Judge.

Aaron Judge Almost Went to the Oakland Athletics Instead of New York Yankees

Fresh out of high school, Judge eagerly awaited offers from MLB teams so he could live out his dream of playing baseball for a living. But time went on and no offers came until the A’s called up his name in the 31st round.

Admittedly, receiving an offer from an MLB team, especially from one that was in California, was no small thing. But it was a selection too far down the line.

After a lot of thinking, Judge decided to go to Fresno State, foregoing the decision to go pro. It may have seemed like giving up a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but Judge believed in his abilities.

Neither did the slugger believe he was ready to face the world just yet, so he took advice from his teacher parents and continued his education. However, the A’s had already left their mark on him. In his book Aaron Judge: The Incredible Story of the New York Yankees’ Home Run–Hitting Phenom, David Fischer relates Judge’s feelings on his first draft.

“The A’s were the first [team] to give me a shot,” he said. “I didn’t take it, I decided to go to college, but I’ll always feel a connection to the Oakland A’s,” he writes on pages 31 and 32.

And to think, three years at college led to Judge becoming a Yankee. Then in 2022, he became a home run-hitting machine as he broke the AL single-season record. Interestingly, no one would have guessed it from his college stats.

Judge’s Raw Power Did Not Translate to Home Runs in College

The A’s knew that the chances of getting Judge to sign with them were low because he seemed set on following the path to college. Their scouting director Eric Kubota told MLB.com, “If you look back at his college stats, he didn’t hit a ton of home runs through his career at Fresno State, which is traditionally a good place to hit home runs.”

Scouting depends on taking chances, which Kubota tried to relay. “So sometimes it’s hard to pound your fists on the table and say, ‘I think this guy is going to hit 30 or 40 home runs in the big leagues,’ when he hasn’t even done it at college,” he added.

READ MORE – $360 Million Man Aaron Judge Almost Ended Up in a Team With a $120 Million Payroll Gap to the New York Yankees in 2017

Fortunately, the outfielder turned his fate around after getting some help from his coaches. And despite the injury plagues 2023 season, Judge remains one of the best in the sport.

WATCH THIS STORY: 5 Intense Workouts Which Make Aaron Judge an Absolute Giant in the MLB