The contracts handed out around Major League Baseball in recent offseasons make Aaron Judge’s nine-year, $360 million deal with the New York Yankees look cheap. Over the past few regular seasons, Judge has been the best hitter in baseball, winning two of the last three American League MVP Awards.
Unfortunately, Judge has struggled in the postseason, something the Yankees need him to fix to win a World Series.
Yankees fans want World Series rings, and until Judge delivers one, there will be questions about his postseason play. So much so that Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report believes his contract could become a nightmare by 2027, largely due to what he’s shown when it matters most.
“He just won his second AL MVP and, even if he didn’t hit 62 home runs again, he was frankly better in 2024 than he was in 2022. Per OPS+, Judge had the best season by a non-Barry Bonds hitter since Mickey Mantle in 1957. One reason to be even more bullish on Judge’s future is that MLB could get an automated strike zone as soon as 2026. That would help him more than anyone else, as he leads all hitters in called strikes outside the zone since 2017.
However, it’s important to be clear-eyed about how Judge is nearing his 33rd birthday (April 26) and in dangerous territory for guys his size… There’s also a lesson to be learned from how pitchers largely silenced Judge during the 2024 playoffs. They just didn’t throw him fastballs, thus neutralizing his biggest strength and forcing him to play a game he’s less likely to win,” Rymer wrote on January 2.
Aaron Judge’s Playoff Struggles
When October comes around, Judge hasn’t given much to the New York Yankees. In the 2024 postseason, he went 9-64 with three home runs, 9 RBI, and slashed .184/.344/.408. Those numbers were drastically different than his .322/.458/.701 slash line and 58 home runs in the regular season.
Judge struggled with offspeed pitches in the playoffs, with one American League scout telling Jesse Rogers of ESPN about the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ approach in pitching to him.
“The Dodgers are feeding him spin, spin, spin that he is chasing,” an American League scout said in October. “Then the fastball looks harder than it actually is, so he is out of timing. He needs to stop worrying about the big moment and just go with those sliders and take them into right field and the right-center-field gap.”
A National League scout also had words about Judge’s struggles, highlighting that he needs to use the whole field like he did in the regular season.
“He’s big enough, strong enough, to hit the ball out of any part of the ballpark.” an NL scout said. “He’s got to use the whole field. When he starts to use the whole field and up the middle, you’re going to see the Aaron Judge you saw all year long.”
Will Judge’s Contract Eventually Be Bad?
After what Judge has shown over the past few years, it’s impossible to call his contract bad for now. Judge has to show up for the New York Yankees, but baseball is a tough sport.
His rough October’s could simply be him dealing with a slump, something every hitter deals with throughout the year.
It hasn’t been ideal for him or the Yankees, but the two-time MVP winner should eventually figure it out.
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Yankees $360 Million Contract Predicted to Be ‘Nightmare’