Aaron Judge home run, Anthony Volpe ovation/steal already made Yankees Opening Day

Aaron Judge and Anthony Volpe already did their part to silence the nonsense that had already clouded Opening Day for the New York Yankees. We had to wait for a roster the morning of (and it created a questionable bench situation) and then had to listen to fans boo Aaron Hicks during the pregame introductions. Come on, people.

This is a new season, we're supposed to start fresh without any negativity, especially when there's nothing to be negative about! Hicks also wasn't even in the starting lineup! We all got our wish!

But Judge quickly put those bad vibes in the rearview by homering in his first at-bat of the 2023 season, taking Logan Webb deep to center field to put the Yankees up 1-0. First plate appearance as the team's captain, a home run to follow up his record-setting 2022. Unbelievable.

Aaron Judge homers for Yankees, Anthony Volpe gets on base in debut

After a few more uninspiring at-bats from Giancarlo Stanton, Josh Donaldson, Gleyber Torres and Jose Trevino, top prospect Anthony Volpe stepped into the batter's box and was ready to put bat on ball.

He swung at the first pitch and grounded it foul. Then he spit on five straight balls (yup, one was called a strike that was outside the zone) that demanded a careful eye. He reached base with a walk in his first career at-bat, then stole second base a few pitches later. Unfortunately, DJ LeMahieu or Judge couldn't drive him in.

Yankees Rookie Anthony Volpe's MLB Debut Highlights

Please be stealing every single time you're on first base, Anthony. He beat the throw with ease, and that was a fastball right down the pipe from Webb without the catcher being distracted by a swing.

Yankees fans exuded the exact opposite energy with Volpe in his pregame intro compared to Hicks. The crowd went wild when his name was announced, and he ran out of the dugout to take the field. Can't get enough of this.

The Yankees now lead 3-0 after Torres took Webb deep for a two-run homer in the fourth -- an oppo shot over the short porch. It's a great start for the young slugger, who badly needs to build on his 2022 campaign.

Happy Opening Day, Yankees fans. Let's cap this off with a win. We're 98% of the way to this being a smashing success.