Kansas City Royals

Royals’ Salvador Perez and Yankees’ Aaron Judge shared a fun moment Friday

The World Baseball Classic ended last month, but the captains of the teams that faced off in the championship game bonded Friday night at Yankee Stadium.

Royals catcher Salvador Perez was the captain for Team Venezuela, which won the title by defeating the United States. Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge was the captain of Team USA.

Perez showed off his prowess at ABS challenges Friday during the Yankees’ 4-2 win over the Royals. Judge was at the plate in the third inning when the umpire said the Royals’ Noah Cameron had missed the zone with a curveball.

Not so fast, Perez said, and he tapped his helmet, the signal for asking for a review of the pitch. Perez was right again as Cameron’s pitch was a strike.

Judge and Perez both chuckled at the call being overturned, and it was a neat moment between two star players from the game at Yankee Stadium.

@pgrathoff

This was a fun moment between the Royals’ Salvador Perez and Yankees’ Aaron Judge

♬ original sound - pgrathoff

This story was originally published April 20, 2026 at 11:00 AM with the headline "Royals’ Salvador Perez and Yankees’ Aaron Judge shared a fun moment Friday."

Pete Grathoff
The Kansas City Star
From covering the World Series to the World Cup, Pete Grathoff has done a little bit of everything since joining The Kansas City Star in 1997.
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