Aaron Judge and Joey Gallo’s best defensive plays with the Yankees in 2021

Joey Gallo, who stands at 6 feet 5 inches tall, is mostly known for mashing home runs, walking, and striking out. His defense, to some, goes unnoticed and unappreciated. The same applies to the 6 foot 7 inch Aaron Judge. Nonetheless, they are not only hitters with pop, but also two elite defensive outfielders.

On Thursday, Gallo was named as a 2021 Rawlings Gold Glove Award Finalist in right field, along with Hunter Renfroe and Kyle Tucker. Gallo’s 14 total defensive runs saved ranked fourth among American League outfielders, which is four more than Tucker and 15 more than Renfroe. Going a step further, Gallo ranked in the 94th percentile when looking at Statcast’s outs above average and in the 90th percentile in outfielder jump. Not only did Gallo lead the AL in walks by a decent margin and among the best in on-base percentage, but he can also definitely flash the leather.

Scroll below to see Gallo’s web gems from this season. These plays aren’t in any specific order necessarily, but feel free to rank them for yourself in the comments below.

Now that you’ve enjoyed Gallo’s glove, it’s time to give The Judge his credit, too. Judge was awarded the 2021 Fielding Bible Award for right field. It is his fist career Fielding Bible Award, and he is just the second Yankee to win the honor, Brett Gardner being the first. The big man was seventh in the AL among outfielders in DRS with 9 and was tied for second in outfield arm runs saved among right fielders. He was also above average in outs above average. Judge has always been a great fielder and Yankees fans especially know he has a cannon for an arm. No. 99 has had some spectacular plays in right field this year. Scroll to see some of the best! Just like Gallo’s plays, these aren’t ranked in any order, but you can rank them in the comment section!

With Gallo in left and Judge in right, the Yankees easily have one of the best corner outfields in the entire league. It’s tough to get a ball to drop when you hit it near them, let alone try to nab an extra base when the ball is in their hands. Both players are free agents at the end of the 2022 season, so the Yankees will also have that to work out in a year from now. But instead of looking too far in the future, let’s continue to take this time to appreciate how well each of them played in the field while patrolling the outfield this season.