Yankees: Aaron Judge Meet Jason Zillo, Your New Guardian Angel

The Yankees have a huge problem on their hands. The task of dealing with it falls into the hands of a relative unknown in their organization as Jason Zillo is about to become the Guardian Angel for The Judge.

Ironically for the Yankees, Aaron Judge presents a problem that is not of his doing. It stems from the fact that Judge is smashing TV monitors and hitting majestic fly balls that continuously land in the seats.

And while Yankees fans are well aware of Judge, the rest of the country is not. To most baseball fans, more than anything, he is nothing more than a curiosity. They’ve seen glimpses of this Paul Bunyan-like man on Sports Center, but they haven’t seen Aaron Judge play baseball on a day-to-day basis.

At the moment and probably for the rest of the season, Aaron Judge is THE Yankee that every member of the media wants a piece of when he comes to town. His Guardian Angel, Jason Zillo, the Yankees PR Director, will attempt to schedule media ops in every city the team visits.

Zillo is the man in the middle, set with the task of presenting the Yankees in a good light with the media, while at the same time protecting their new-found star from the glare of stardom.

But there’s always going to be the ones looking for that “exclusive interview” with Judge who bribes the desk clerk at the hotel to find what room he’s staying in. Or the ones who intercept him in the lobby as he calls for a cab on the way to dinner.

And for any 25-year old, it can get a bit much because all of a sudden not only are you expected to hit 99 mph fastballs over the wall, but you also have to find ways to “accommodate” the media.

And then, of course, there’s the problem of how a man six feet seven inches tall can be inconspicuous anywhere he goes.

With The Media, It Takes All Kinds

Some Yankees, like a Reggie Jackson, enjoyed and even sought out the spotlight. In fact, it was the main reason he signed with the team so he could become “the straw that stirred the drink” in the Big Apple.

Others, like Derek Jeter, “played” the media successfully for two decades. Jeter was available when he wanted to be. And even during those times, he remained guarded and almost mysterious in his interaction with the media, learning the art of answering a question with questions of his own making that left a reporter’s head spinning, but happily knowing that he’d been scammed by the Yankees great.

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Roger Maris, on the other hand, represented yet another breed in handling the media. In his case, he did everything possible to avoid the media, and it boomeranged on him as the press resented him for it, choosing instead to glorify the home runs that his teammate, Mickey Mantle, was hitting during the race to 61 in 1961.

Maris would lose a good portion of his crewcut that season due to stress and would need to be pushed up the dugout steps to wave his cap to the crowd on that day in October when he overstepped Babe Ruth with home run number sixty-one.

Judge Will Learn To Gavel The Media Down

Aaron Judge, as time goes on, will find his little niche in dealing with the media. His niche will be different than any of the players mentioned above. At the moment, it’s still all new to him. But the moments of truth will come later in the season when he gets asked the same stupid questions, only in a different city.

Jason Zillo will work feverishly to provide interference for Judge as the man walking the tightrope for the Yankees. Zillo is the man in the middle, set with the task of presenting the Yankees in a good light with the media, while at the same time protecting their new-found star from the glare of stardom.

Aaron Judge appears to have his head on straight, and that’s certainly a plus for the Yankees, as well as for him. His Guardian Angel will be there to assist in the process, but ultimately it will be up to Judge to come up with his formula in handling the media crush that is bound to accelerate as the season moves on.

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This story within a story is one that we’ll want to watch as it develops over the next several months. But unless you’re Sports Illustrated, it’s probably not a good idea to dial Jason Zillo’s number asking for an interview with Aaron Judge. Because those days are already long gone.