What can Aaron Judge aim for a...

TAMPA — What do you do after hitting 62 home runs, earning the AL MVP, and signing a $360 million contract? For starters, you convert even the most regular outfield practice into a shouting frenzy, with spectators yelling for each baseball that flies in your vicinity.

On Monday, Aaron Judge returned to the familiar spring confines of George M. Steinbrenner Field, preparing for the team's first full-squad practices. He remains the most watched (and easiest to notice) member of the New York Yankees after a high-stakes trip into free agency. The crowd's attention follows him wherever he goes, as do the eager shouts of hundreds of young baseball enthusiasts.

More critical eyes will be on Judge throughout the forthcoming regular season. After proving his "best player in baseball" potential in 2022, the colossal right fielder will be subjected to frequent comparisons to himself — to his AL-record home run pace, to his.311/.425/.686 hitting line, to his 25.1% strikeout rate, to his excellent defense, to his noteworthy recent durability. The unscientific reasoning of lightning not hitting twice leads to the idea that Judge will not equal those numbers. Judge, on the other hand, is not ready to give that argument just yet.

At the very least, he must be eager for his Yankee Stadium at-bats to return to "normal" after spending every September swing in a vacuum-sealed, quiet bubble of suspense, right? "I believe normal adjustments occur throughout your life and profession," he remarked. "I believe this is the new normal. You just never know."

Adopting the captain designation, according to Judge and manager Aaron Boone, has not necessitated any visible changes in Judge, he remains the same, even if his goals are ambitious. "It's simply about being an accountable teammate," he explained. "On good days, I'm there for you. On terrible days, I'm here for you. And that's what I truly want to be remembered for."

He'll almost certainly be remembered for smashing Roger Maris' home run record in 2022, as well as any number of other superhuman statistical exploits. A new season and a new contract are now occasions to ask what success looks like for a player whose response has been substantially altered multiple times.

Other with 62 home runs, MVP-caliber may represent a variety of things, but the broader themes take precedence. They do, at least in February. If MVP-caliber wasn't explicit enough as an expectation, "greatness" should be.

"I think the most important thing for him is just making sure he gets to the post and staying healthy," Boone said. "And, you know, brilliance will find its way if that's the case."