Machado believes Judge's pinstripes comment was 'blown out of proportion'

Manny Machado was surprised to learn Aaron Judge received a warning from the league after playfully saying the Baltimore Orioles shortstop would "look good in pinstripes."

"I think it was just blown out of proportion," Machado told reporters Friday, according to Anthony Rieber of Newsday. "I'm always going to back him up. He's a great kid and has a bright future ahead of him."

Prior to Wednesday's game, Judge struck up a conversation with Machado and suggested a potential landing spot for next year once he becomes a free agent.

"I told him, 'You'd look pretty good in pinstripes,'" Judge told reporters of the conversation.

Major League Baseball contacted the Yankees, with the team communicating back to the league that it found Judge's comments inappropriate and they were not authorized by the club. General manager Brian Cashman would later tell Judge that he wasn't able to make such comments.

"I reached out to Aaron to make sure he got the full perspective, obviously clearly from Baltimore's perspective as well,” Cashman said, according to the New York Daily News. "There's certainly no intentions on creating any difficulties for everybody. I made sure Aaron understood the commissioner’s perspective on it. He does."

While MLB tries to prevent cases of tampering, Machado acknowledged that the types of conversation he and Judge had aren't uncommon in baseball.

"Everyone always jokes around about a lot of things, and things that we say on the field usually stay on the field," Machado said. "I've told a lot of people they'd look good in black and orange as well, trying to get guys over here. It's just part of the game. You want to put the best team out there on your field and if I'm a part of this team, I want to bring the best guys over here as much as I can. I want to get a ring as well."