Yankees' Chisholm: Judge 'one of the best players to ever play this game'

New York Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. believes his teammate Aaron Judge is already an all-time great.

"Guys keep getting on for him, and he just keeps on performing and showing us why he's the MVP of the league and one of the best players to ever play this game," Chisholm said of Judge after the Yankees' 9-7 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday night, per SNY.

"We all just try to be like him. We all tell him every day, 'Hey, we want to be you when we grow up.' But at the same time, we're out here playing a team game, and we've got our big brother leading us, and he helps a lot."

Judge kick-started the Yankees' offense in the bottom of the first inning with his MLB-leading fifth home run of the season, a three-run blast off Diamondbacks starting pitcher Merrill Kelly.

The home run was the 500th extra-base hit of Judge's career in his 999th game, making him the third-fastest Yankee to reach the mark behind Joe DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig.

The reigning AL MVP later added a double and a single to up his slash line to a ridiculous .417/.481/1.167 through six contests. Judge also stole his first base of the season in the fourth inning.

"I told (Chisholm) I was going to catch him in stolen bases this year, so I think we're both trying to beat each other," Judge joked postgame. "It's going to be a good year. We're going to go out there and continue to push each other. I think everyone in this clubhouse is striving to be great."

Judge hit a league-leading 58 home runs in 2024 while establishing new career highs in OPS (1.159), OPS+ (223), and RBIs (144).

The 32-year-old entered Thursday having already accrued 52 career fWAR.