Giancarlo Stanton blasts upper...

The sluggers for the New York Yankees are off to a strong start.

Aaron Judge, the newly crowned AL home run champion, began his 2023 season with a home run in his first at-bat on Thursday. Giancarlo Stanton performed the following on Sunday:

That's a 485-foot moonshot into the upper balcony in center field. It was moving at 117.8 mph when it departed his bat. There was no question about it. It was his second-longest home run of the season.

The home run was his second of the season and is likely a portent of things to come for the speedster, who has hit 31 and 35 home runs in each of his previous two seasons. The two-run blast off of Ross Stripling enabled the Yankees beat the San Francisco Giants 6-0.

How did they get their first hit? Judge deserves credit. In the third inning, Judge scored the game's first run on a one-out solo drive off an 87 mph Stripling slider that hung over the plate — the same pitch Stanton would send into the bleachers two at-bats later.

The home run, like Stanton's, was his second of the season — and a probable portent of things to come.