Yankees Captain and 2025 American League reigning MVP, Aaron Judge, has been announced as this year’s MLB The Show 26 cover athlete, according to San Diego Studios earlier today.
Judge, age 33, will have this be the second time he’s featured as the cover athlete for the popular baseball video game MLB The Show, in which the last time he was the cover athlete was back in 2018, following his 2017 rookie season, in which he won American League Rookie of the Year hitting a single season record at the time (52 home runs) for rookies, and finishing in second place of the AL MVP award that season, trailing second baseman Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros.
Judge has won back-to-back MVPs the past two seasons (2024, 2025), in which he has continued to dominate the sport as one of the greatest right-handed hitters we’ve ever seen. The cover on this year’s MLB The Show game features not only Judge’s Yankees colors, but also his college and high school colors, as well as the first looks of him in his WBC uniform, in which Judge will be an active participant in this year’s 2026 World Baseball Classic for Team USA and has been named the team’s captain as well. The 2026 World Baseball Classic is set to begin in early March.
It’s been quite the journey for Judge, who was initially drafted in the 31st round out of high school back in 2010 by the then Oakland A’s, now Sacramento A’s. Judge instead opted to attend college, where he played for Fresno State University, a Division I school just 129 miles from his hometown of Linden, California. Judge was then drafted three years later, in his junior year in 2013, by the New York Yankees in the first round, 32nd overall, in which the Yankees had such a pick as compensation for former outfielder Nick Swisher signing as a free agent with the now Cleveland Guardians, formerly known as the Cleveland Indians, the prior offseason.
Judge spent the next few years in the minors, but earned a promotion in 2016, and hit a home run in his first big league at-bat alongside another former rookie, Tyler Austin, on August 13th, 2016, in which both rookies hit back-to-back home runs in their first at-bats. Judge afterwards struggled in his first taste of MLB action, hitting just for a .179 batting average with 4 home runs and 10 RBI’s in 27 games.
Judge, following the 2016 season, however, got to work, made some mechanical swing adjustments with the hitting guru known as Teacherman, who Judge often credits for his success, and then came out as the MVP player caliber and one of the best right-handed hitters of this generation that we’ve come to know since 2017.
For Judge and his family, this is just another stepping stone on a mile-long list of achievements and personal uphill battles as a professional baseball player and now a Yankees great. The MLB The Show 26 cover, the World Baseball Classic, and another battle-tested 2026 Yankees season are all things that Yankees fans, baseball fans, and Aaron Judge fans alike have to look forward to in the coming months as we get closer to the return of the baseball season.
Aaron Judge Named MLB The Show 26 Cover Athlete