Yankees slugger Aaron Judge is the new face of Pepsi

Mere hours before the face of the Yankees, Aaron Judge is set to win the AL Rookie of the Year, he became the face of Pepsi, signing a multi-year endorsement deal as a national spokesman.

First, it was Under Armour, then Rawlings, Fanatics, MLB The Show 18 and now Pepsi. Yankees phenom, Aaron Judge is officially having himself one heck of a year!

Although Pepsi is no longer the official soft drink of Major League Baseball, that moniker belongs to Coca-Cola, which began its affiliation last season, Pepsi still has working agreements with a number of teams including the Yankees.

In fact, Judge isn’t even the first ballplayer to hail from the Bronx with such an endorsement deal, as Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and even Gary Sanchez have all been in business with the Purchase, NY-based company.

PepsiCo senior director of sports marketing, Justin Toman was thrilled to welcome Judge to the Pepsi family, saying Judge’s exciting style of play is exactly what Pepsi embodies.

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"“From his amazing catches to his monstrous home runs, whether you are a Yankee fan or not, you have to watch him. How he handles himself makes him a great ambassador for our brand and company on and off the field,” said Toman.“He’s one of the biggest rising stars in baseball and we’re looking forward to working together to engage baseball enthusiasts in new and unique ways next season and beyond.”"

Unlike Dallas Cowboys quarterback, Dak Prescott, whose spokesperson contract also deals with the Frito Lay brand, Judge’s does not. Toman is on record saying that Judge will appear in all sorts of Pepsi-related media leading up to Opening Day 2018.

As for Monday evening, Judge should become the ninth Yankee ever to be named AL Rookie of the Year.

As I stated earlier in the day on Twitter, if for some reason, Judge is not a unanimous selection for the award, then the entire voting process needs to be scrapped. That includes those responsible for voting from the BBWAA.

Next: The 40-man roster crunch

No way, shape or form, should a baseball writer from Boston choose Andrew Benintendi over the historical season Judge put together. Even one ballot filled out as such is a slap in the face not only to the 25-year-old rookie but the game of baseball itself.