Yankees get first taste of John Sterling replacement Dave Sims with Aaron Judge HR

Despite many injury concerns, there are a lot of good feelings surrounding the New York Yankees right now. The dawn of a new season always helps with that, but the video of JC Escarra making the Opening Day roster was as heartwarming as it gets, and Austin Wells and Ben Rice look like they are going to take massive leaps in 2025.

And would you look at that, Aaron Judge hit his first homer of the spring on Saturday! He's been relatively quiet, so it was pleasant to see one of his trademark blasts. Though the Yankees would lose the game in agonizing fashion (they led 7-0 in the ninth and lost 8-7), fans were also treated to another 2025 preview.

New radio broadcaster Dave Sims was on the call for this one. The former Mariners play-by-play man joined WFAN this offseason once John Sterling's retirement became officially official. In fact, Sims succeeding Sterling was rumored to be in the works since last August.

Sims will now team up with Suzyn Waldman in the booth in what will usher in a new radio era for Bombers fans and the folks in New York. And there was no better way to introduce himself with a Judge home run call, because there are plenty of those in Sims' future.

Some chills in spring training! The regular season, we can only hope, will be even more electric with the Yankees looking to overcome some early adversity.

Listen to new Yankees broadcaster Dave Sims call Aaron Judge's first spring home run

"Let's see if he whales on this pitch here. 2-0. Here it comes. And he did! A drive deep to left. And it isss gone! A hey now for Aaron Judge!"

The 71-year-old Sims spent 18 years calling Mariners games, but his career began in the Big Apple when he became a sportswriter for the New York Daily News in 1980. From there, he moved to radio starting in 1986 and later worked for WFAN in 1989. Though Sterling's abrupt retirement left an immediate void in an important form of media for the Yankees, Sims' return to the city he used to live in helped lessen the sting. Not to mention, he's a Yankees fan.

This should serve as a promising primer for a larger audience once Sims officially hits the airwaves on Opening Day for the Yankees' March 27 game against the Milwaukee Brewers.