Rodon, who signed a six-year, $162 million free agent deal with the Yankees before the 2023 season, first saw Judge on June 29, 2017 at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago when the lefthander was with the White Sox. He struck out Judge in his first at-bat and got him to ground to short in his second at-bat of what would be a 12-3 Yankees victory.

The New York Yankees superstar is right up there with Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani as the best players in baseball. It's a testament to Judge's impressive body of work that there's a real argument that he's better than the first two-way superstar in recent memory.

On Thursday, Rodon once again expressed his admiration for Judge when asked what surprises him, per Erik Boland of Newsday Sports. This came after Rodon threw for seven innings with eight strikeouts and gave up no runs as the Yankees defeated the Cleveland Guardians 5-1.