Aaron Judge's defense flipped World Baseball Classic game vs DR on its head

Aaron Judge authoring a turning point moment in a critical World Baseball Classic matchup isn't a huge surprise to New York Yankees fans. Judge doing so in a way that didn't involve his bat certainly raised a few eyebrows, though.

It's easy to forget amid the superhuman exit velocities and moonshot homers that Judge is a pretty darn good defensive outfielder. For a man of his size, he moves exceptionally well, and his arm has always been a cannon. Or, well, it used to be.

The three-time MVP may have survived a Tommy John scare last season, but his elbow injury certainly limited his throws. The soon-to-be 34-year-old is still a hitter who is on par with the greatest to ever walk to their earth in their prime, but was he really going to continue to be a plus defender after such a limiting injury and with his advancing age?

It didn't seem likely until he nailed Francisco Tatis Jr. with a laser at third base in the bottom of the third inning.

Tatis Jr. is no slouch. His average sprint speed last year was 28.6 feet per second, an 83rd percentile mark. Judge got him by a mile, unleashing a 95.7 mile-per-hour strike on the fly. It was his fastest throw in three years. It was more than just that. It was a turning point.

Aaron Judge's game-changing WBC throw sends a message that the Yankees' right fielder still has a cannon

At the early juncture in this clash of the titans, the star-studded Dominican team was threatening to pull away. Paul Skenes didn't have his best stuff, and DR was up 1-0 and threatening for more when Judge threw out Tatis Jr. and stopped the momentum. It set up Gunnar Henderson's game-tying homer and Roman Anthony's go-ahead dinger in the top of the fourth.

Derek Jeter rightfully pointed out that it was the turning point of the game. The Dominicans had been aggressive in all facets throughout the tournament. After Judge's throw, you saw a noticeably more cautious approach; one could even call it overly cautious.

That wasn't all for Judge, though. He'd make a nice sliding catch later on and was robbed of a homer by Julio Rodriguez in the top of the fifth. But the biggest play of the game was the throw. It set up the Team USA rally and ultimately ensured there would be no more scoring throughout the contest, as the US advanced by a score of 2-1.

The Captain coming up big proves that the United States' embarrassment is behind them. With Japan already going down, the path to a championship just became a lot less scary. Moreover, with one throw, Judge sent a message to the Yankees, to the fans, and to the rest of the MLB that he's still a defensive asset, and that his elbow has fully recovered.