It has been quite a season for Yankees star Aaron Judge, who has put together an impressive stat line to this point. He is batting .322 on the year, which ranks third in MLB, and has knocked 41 home runs, which not only leads the league but is eight more than No. 2 on the list, Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers.
Judge is tops in the league in RBIs (103), on-base percentage (.456) and slugging percentage (.701). He’s been the best hitter in baseball, and it’s not even close.
Alas, that has created something of a problem for the Yankees—teams are getting more than a little antsy about pitching to Judge. In the weekend series against the Blue Jays, Judge was walked six times in 15 plate appearances, including four time intentionally. He received three intentional walks in Sunday’s game.
Teammate Juan Soto was not happy about it.
“It sucks,” Soto said, via Newsday. “Just because you want him at the plate. I’m doing my best to get him up, and to see them pass him over, it makes me mad. I don’t like that. I want them to challenge him and see what he can really do. But it’s part of the game. They’re trying to win, too, so you respect that.”
Yankees Have Struggled at Cleanup Spot
Of course, it’s a calculated decision by opponents to choose to put Judge on first base, a decision that is aided by the fact that the Yankees have not done much to protect Judge in the lineup. Judge has been the No. 3 hitter in the Yankees lineup all season, and the team has gotten precious little out of the cleanup spot behind him.
Yankees No. 4 hitters are batting .217 on the season, 28th out of the 30 MLB teams. They have produced just 11 home runs, which ranks 26th, and their .618 OPS is last in baseball. On Sunday, the Yankees had catcher Austin Wells batting cleanup,
It has been the big issue for the Yankees all season. They’ve had excellent production from Judge and Soto (.310, 28 homers, 78 RBIs), but the rest of the lineup has struggled. Anthony Volpe (.261) is the only other regular on the team batting better than .250, as injuries and slumps have slowed would-be sluggers Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rizzo and Alex Verdugo.
Aaron Judge ‘In a Different Place Right Now’
So expect to see more and more teams shying away from pitching to Judge, either walking him intentionally or pitching around him — what manager Aaron Boone calls, “The Aaron Judge Treatment.” On Sunday, Blue Jays pitching coach Pete Walker said that Judge, who is on pace for 59 home runs, is not likely to see many good pitches going forward.
The Blue Jays don’t typically issue intentional walks, but Judge is a different case.
“I know our thought process [Saturday] and watching him this series and watching video from this year, it’s just he’s in a different place right now. … I know we haven’t done that since I’ve been coaching to anybody, and that’s 12 years as a pitching coach,” Walker said, via the New York Post. “And I know [manager John Schneider] was pretty adamant about it. I can’t think of anyone else we’d even consider doing it for.”
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Yankees Star Sounds Off on Aaron Judge ‘Treatment’