Tyler Austin’s name usually comes up the same way now.
Someone mentions Aaron Judge’s first big-league home run. There’s a pause. Then someone asks, “Wait — who was that other guy?”
That guy was Austin.
On Aug. 13, 2016, Austin and Judge made MLB history with the New York Yankees, becoming the first teammates ever to hit back-to-back home runs in their first career at-bats. Judge’s 446-foot blast launched a superstar. Austin’s homer launched a lifetime membership in baseball trivia.
What followed only widened the gap.
Judge went on to become the face of the Yankees, a three-time MVP, a record-setting home run hitter, a captain, and one of the defining players of his era.
Austin’s moment became a fun fact.
For years, Austin was a footnote. He went to Japan and was largely forgotten.
The Chicago Cubs have agreed to a one-year major league deal with Austin, giving the former Yankees first baseman another shot in MLB after six seasons in Japan. It’s a low-risk move at $1.25 million plus incentives, but it comes with something Austin hasn’t had in a long time: a chance to be remembered for something that didn’t happen right before Aaron Judge did something historic.
Austin’s major league résumé is short but not empty.
In parts of four MLB seasons with the Yankees and Twins, he hit.230 with a.307 on-base percentage and.459 slugging percentage, hitting 17 home runs in limited playing time. The power was there. The runway wasn’t.
He was a legitimate power prospect in the Yankees system, but his path was crowded and his window short. In 2018, he was traded to the Twins as part of the Lance Lynn deal, a move that came with an awkward subplot that still lives forever online.
After the trade, Austin publicly distanced himself from tweets posted by his father criticizing the Yankees, calling them embarrassing and asking that they be deleted.
When the door stopped opening, Austin went overseas. In Japan, he rebuilt his career over six seasons, producing steady power and staying employed while most fans back home quietly stopped checking.
The Cubs are now hitting the reset button.
Chicago has multiple open 40-man roster spots and no corresponding move to make, making Austin an easy add with right-handed power and experience. He doesn’t arrive as a savior. He arrives as a question.
Aaron Judge became a franchise cornerstone. Tyler Austin took the scenic route.
Nearly nine years later, he gets another chance to be more than “that other guy.” Even if the introduction still starts the same way.
