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Jorge Castillo, editor at ESPN
NEW YORK — Aaron Judge has been making life difficult for pitchers over the past three months and more. His numbers from that time belong in video games with the difficulty level dialed down to rookie. Teams have tried and failed to slow down the New York Yankees’ towering superstar, but a bold new strategy has recently emerged.
The New York Mets made the first move in a late July matchup when they clearly pitched around Judge. In a Mets win, he allowed four walks, once intentionally. On Saturday, the Toronto Blue Jays followed that plan, allowing Judge three intentional walks after he hit a home run in the first inning.
“It’s tough,” Judge said. “I always want to score.”
The Jays’ first free pass, with no one on base and two outs in the second inning, marked the first time in more than 50 years that a player was intentionally forced to walk so early in a game. On Sunday, Judge was intentionally forced to walk in the fifth inning with the Blue Jays leading 2-0 and two outs and a runner on first base.
“Oh, this goes beyond the Bonds treatment,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said with a smile. “Now we call it the Judge treatment.”
Boone’s comment was not entirely serious. Barry Bonds recorded a major league record 232 walks in 2004 — 120 of them intentional. Judge has recorded 92 walks — only 11 of them intentional — but his performance this season is the closest he’s come to Bonds in the last two decades.
Judge, 32, has a .321 batting average with 41 home runs and a 1.147 OPS in 114 games. If you strip out his first month of unusual adversity, the numbers are even more astonishing: a .368/.500/.803 slash average with 37 home runs and 91 RBIs in 87 games. Two years after hitting an AL-record 62 home runs, Judge is on pace for 58 home runs and outstanding numbers in most other categories. He’s better than ever.
Recently, however, there have been fewer opportunities to cause damage.
The Yankees’ recent emergence from their six-week slump has been accompanied by an intriguing question: Will opponents routinely avoid pitching to Judge in the final stretch and even into October?
“It’s a strategy,” Yankees ace Gerrit Cole said. “But I like watching him hit, so I wish they hadn’t done it.”
With an intentional walk in the first game of a doubleheader against the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday, Judge became the first Yankees player with five intentional walks in three games since Roger Maris did it twice in 1962. The only other Yankees player to have five intentional walks in three games was Babe Ruth in 1923. Judge’s three-game IBB streak is the third-longest in franchise history, behind Aaron Robinson in May 1947 and Joe DiMaggio in July 1939 (both were four-game streaks).
“It sucks because you want him to bat,” said Yankees right fielder Juan Soto, who bats second in the lineup ahead of Judge. “I do my best to get him in the game, and when I see them pass him over, it makes me angry. I don’t like that. I want them to challenge him and see what he can really do. But that’s the way it is. It’s part of the game. They want to win, too, so you respect that.”
In earlier times, this was a more common maneuver. Data – and the end of pitchers’ hitting in the National League – have led clubs to avoid intentional walks by hitters in recent years. In this case, however, the ploy became a more reasonable option as the lineup around Soto and Judge collapsed in June and into late July, though the All-Stars continued to put up notable numbers as a duo. Since June 4, Yankees hitters have gone 4 for 39 with five walks, immediately following Judge’s 47 walks during that span.
Soto and Judge have firmly occupied their spots in the batting order, second and third, all season, but Boone revealed Wednesday that he has considered trading Soto and Judge to force teams to throw to Judge. He admitted that he has also considered having Soto and Judge bat first and second in the lineup.
“I probably wouldn’t necessarily go down that path,” Boone added. “But you should never say never.”
The easiest way to get teams to sign Judge right now is for Austin Wells to continue his recent performance. The rookie catcher had a .213 batting average with a .618 OPS and two home runs in 154 batting appearances as of June 27. Since then, he has a .312/.411/.559 batting average with six home runs in 113 batting appearances. His .970 OPS is the best among catcher’s during that time.
Wells became the team’s cleanup hitter on July 20, shortly after first-string catcher Jose Trevino was placed on the injured list. He has not given up his role as Judge’s primary protector in the lineup against right-handers since Giancarlo Stanton returned from injury to fill in against left-handers.
“I mean, if I were her, I would be running Judge, too,” Wells said. “I for one don’t take it personally, but I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
Ron Washington challenged Wells on Wednesday.
Managers are often reluctant to reveal their strategy before a game. Every little detail is valuable. But the Angels manager let the curtains slide a little before his club’s doubleheader at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday.
Washington, like the rest of the baseball universe, has watched Judge in awe this summer. He also watched what his colleague, Blue Jays manager John Schneider, did over the weekend.
“I don’t think I’m going to run him if nobody’s (on base),” Washington said. “But if there’s a chance that a base is open and his hit can hurt us, he’s not going to hit. Someone else is going to hit. It’s that simple. It’s not disrespectful to anyone. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. I mean, he’s a bad boy and you can’t just come into that stadium and let him beat you up if you don’t have to.”
That afternoon, Washington actually walked Judge even though no one was on base. There were two outs in the eighth inning of Game 1, and at that point Judge was 2-for-3 with a walk. The Angels, trailing 5-2, had left-hander Matt Moore on the mound. Washington didn’t like the matchup. He held up four fingers and let Judge take his base.
Moments later, Wells hit a 103 mph line drive straight to the second baseman. The inning was over. The tactic worked – just about.
“He’s not perfect,” Washington said of Judge. “But he is terrible. Do you know how bad Michael Jackson is? He’s bad. You can’t just go man to man with him unless you absolutely have to. If you have to go man to man, you’re man to man.
“But if you don’t have to, I’m sorry, then you have to take the bat out of his hand and someone else has to hit us. And I don’t really care what anyone says after that.”
