The baseball world is rejoicing in Japan’s victory over the USA in the recently concluded World Baseball Classic. And now that the international tournament is over, fans will slowly slide back into the rhythm of the regular season. There is less than a week left before things start back up as normal and in the meantime, there’s spring training to keep everyone busy. On March 21st, while Mike Trout was battling Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge was up against Will Vest.

At the same time as Japan vs the USA in loanDepot Park, it was also the Yankees vs the Tigers at George M. Steinbrenner Field. The Pinstripes won 6-3 in their second-last Grapefruit League game. Of course, there was no shortage of hiccups on both sides, with some players failing to give their best. One of them was the Tigers’ pitcher Will Vest, who stopped just short of causing harm to the Yankees captain.

Will Vest hit Aaron Judge in the thigh with a stray pitch

Talkin’ Yanks posted a video of the moment as the crowds booed and Judge walked off. Vest went for a low ball that not only went too low but ran astray from its path too. The Yankees captain stood up on his toes while bent over in half as the ball hit him in his thigh. It can be called a lucky moment in an unlucky situation – if the angle was even a little bit off, the pitch would have done more damage.

The post was angrily captioned, “Suspend Will Vest?@MLB” and the crowd in the stadium apparently echoed the sentiment. Judge did a little limp for the first step, but then he walked almost normally. Vest looked at him, maybe to make sure he was really okay, but then went back to the game, uninterested.

Spring training wasn’t the first time these two had a tussle

Being part of the AL East means the Yankees often face the rest of the teams in the same division. And Will Vest has brawled with Aaron Judge before, so to speak. In a July 2021 game, when the pitcher was with the Seattle Mariners, the two players came face to face. Judge hit it long, but then the umpire ruled it a foul ball.

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Vest is coming off a seven-day absence, not because of an injury, but because he was trying to fix the mechanics of his delivery. But if this last performance is anything to go by, perhaps more practice is needed.

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