Yankees' Gerrit Cole, Aaron Judge jealous of Angels' Shohei Ohtani?

It sounds like New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole and slugger Aaron Judge are jealous of superstar Shohei Ohtani for reasons unrelated to what Ohtani could earn in free agency. 

Per Jon Heyman of the New York Post, Cole referred to Ohtani as "an inspiration" to younger two-way players hoping to one day make it big both as a pitcher and a hitter. 

"By the end of high school I was throwing 100 mph," Cole explained. "I loved hitting. I loved playing the field. But it was, you’re never going to do that anymore. You throw too hard. … Ohtani is inspiring people to now say, hey, this is possible in the major leagues." 

Ohtani took the bump Monday at the Boston Red Sox and, thus, didn't pitch during the midweek three-game series at Yankee Stadium. He went deep on Tuesday and then had a home run taken away by none other than Judge on Wednesday. 

"Really a lot of teams liked me more as a pitcher than a hitter," Judge added. "I kind of took offense to that. I said I’m not going to pitch in the big leagues. I’d rather hit home runs than give up home runs. I don’t think my arm would have lasted. These guys throw 200 innings in a year. That’s a gift right there." 

Judge seemingly made the right decision, as he set an American League single-season record of 62 home runs and earned AL Most Valuable Player honors last year. The four-time All-Star selection is now unofficially recruiting Ohtani while trying to merely keep pace with the 28-year-old and with three-time MVP Mike Trout.

"I’ve got Trout and Ohtani above me," Judge humbly admitted about his player power rankings. "Ohtani is doing both pitching and hitting, and Mike Trout wins an MVP every other year. I’ve got some work to do." 

Judge could soon ask Ohtani for advice on a daily basis if the Yankees are able to land the international phenom ahead of this summer's trade deadline as some have suggested.