TAMPA — Yankees reliever Zack Britton spent a few minutes Thursday talking up Aaron Judge as a great player and great person.

“It’s hard to be a face of the franchise let alone this one and do it with such grace,” Britton said. “You saw it with Derek Jeter with how humble he was with the amount of success that he had, and now Judge is doing the same thing.”

That led into a question about a potential future honor for Judge that most Yankees fans think is inevitable.

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Is it time for the Yankees to start seriously thinking about naming Judge the franchise’s 13th captain and first since Jeter retired following the 2014 season?

“I don’t even think Judge needs it,” Britton responded. “He’s already that to the guys in the clubhouse, so I don’t think you need that confirmation.”

Jeter was three months before his 29th birthday and in his eighth full season when the Yankees named him captain on June 3, 2003. He also had four World Series rings.

Judge, who has yet to play in a World Series, will be 27 in April. It’s likely that the Yankees won’t consider naming him captain until they get him locked up for a long-term contract, and that could be a couple years away because he can’t become a free agent until after the 2022 season.

What does Judge think about someday being named captain?

Does he want the honor?

We asked, and Judge had to think about 10 seconds before coming up with an answer probably he’d much rather smother teammates with compliments than talk about himself.

Eventually Judge came up with an answer.

“I don’t really think about it to be honest, but there’s nothing bigger than getting the support and love from your teammates,” he said. “That’s a reason why I want to go 110 percent every single game for them. I want to be in the trenches with them. I play for them. Hearing those types of words from teammates – people saying they could see me doing this or doing that – there’s nothing bigger than hearing that from your teammates.”

And what about someday being named captain?

“It would be quite an honor,” he admitted. “I wouldn’t even know what to say if it ever happened, but first we’ve got to get a couple rings. Let’s do that first and then see what happens.”

Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.