Back on July 20th an admittedly tongue-in-cheek
article was posted with the title “Aaron Judge has become the worst player in
baseball.” This article was posted seven games into the second half and barely
a week after Judge had put on a show at the All-Star Game and the Home Run Derby
bringing home the title to the American League and to the Bronx. The article
was done with a bit of sarcasm, and I can appreciate that as I tend to do that
a lot in my own writing, but now some people out there, so-called fans, are all
over Judge because of his second-half slump. Here are my thoughts on that for
all the haters out there, and the supporters as well.
First and foremost Judge was never the type of hitter to hit
like he was in the first half and was due a natural regression. Anyone who
thought Judge was going to chase down Barry Bonds’ single season home run
record while flirting with the .400 mark or even a high .300 batting average is
not only crazy but they also didn’t pay attention to Judge while at Fresno
State or throughout his minor league career with the Yankees. Judge is not
without his faults, I admit that, and he has been and always has been a better
hitter than the .183/.350/.355 hitter in the second half but there may be a few
reasons why he has struggled so mightily.
Do you believe in the whole thought process that the Home
Run Derby is cursed and it tends to mess with the winner’s swing for the
remainder of the season? I don’t personally, not with the number of coaches and
hitting instructors in the league, but I don’t believe in the Madden curse
either. Some do though and I would never completely discredit their opinion or
thoughts on the matter. There’s definitely some evidence if you want to cherry
pick stats and such but nothing is 100% and you can’t predict baseball so I’ll
leave that theory at that.
Judge had a .426 BABIP and a 41.7 HR/FB rate before the
All-Star break showing that an obvious, and steep, regression was due for the
Yankees slugger. Also factor in that Judge is seeing less fastballs, more
sliders (23.9 of the time Judge is seeing a slider which is up from 20.3 % in
the first half), less strikes and has been chasing more pitches you can see why
Judge may be struggling. Judge is only seeing 38.3 % of the pitches thrown to
him actually in the strike zone in the second half while his chase percentage
is up to 30.1% in the second half. Judge is seeing less strikes and is trying
to do more by chasing bad pitches off the plate, that’s a rookie mistake. There’s
that word again, rookie. 25-year old rookie at that.
Many, no one more loud that Bryan Hoch though, are also
speculating that Judge has an apparent shoulder injury that he is playing
through and hiding from the media. In a report by Hoch it was stated that Judge
has been repeatedly receiving extra treatment on his left shoulder since the
beginning of August. Giving a slugger a shoulder injury can explain opening up
too early on his swing, swinging and missing more which his stats say that he
is, and not making as solid contact as he was in the first half. The injury
theory may actually be the most valid and feasible theory of them all and
knowing Judge like I think I know Judge I can see a lot of Derek Jeter in him.
Judge is not going to want to come off the field and Judge is not going to want
to tell the media that his shoulder is the reason for his struggles.
In closing, just chill. Judge is who Judge is. The Yankees
are here due in large part to what Judge has done this season and specifically
in the first half. This is a team game and it takes all 25, not just the man
wearing the #99 Yankees jersey. Let’s remember that and let’s keep that in
perspective before we start putting our opinions out there because it has
boggled my mind to see some of the hate and condescending tones on Twitter and such
regarding Judge and his recent performance. This kid is a rookie and the
hardest thing to do in the world is to hit a Major League pitch. If you guys
and girls can do better than by all means, have at it. I’d love to see the
Yankees win a few more games. If not…. Shhhhhhh. Thanks for reading!