Aaron Judge has a strange problem at the plate
Aaron Judge is off to a terrific start to the season, but the Yankees star would be playing even better if he could hit left-handed pitching.
When you watch Aaron Judge turn on a pitch and majestically blast it into the left field seats it’s easy to think he’s invincible at the plate. That’s not true though. The Yankees slugger needs to learn how to hit lefties if he’s really going to reach his full potential as a hitter.
It may seem unfair to criticize someone who’s currently hitting .289 with 11 home runs on the relatively young season. That average is actually slightly higher than where he finished last season when he finished second to Mike Trout in the race to win the AL MVP Award. That’s enough to give Judge an offensive WAR of two through 43 games.
In truth, Judge is the best hitter the Yankees have. With all due respect to Giancarlo Stanton and Gary Sanchez, he’s the first player on the opposing pitcher’s scouting report. Judge’s ability to hit the ball into the seats and exercise enough patience to draw a walk makes him the best total hitter on Aaron Boone’s team.
He isn’t perfect though. It should probably frighten opposing pitchers to learn that the 26-year-old is doing all of this with a significant weakness in his game. For all of Judge’s talent, he has been really poor against left-handed pitching this season. He’s only hitting .205 on the year against southpaws. That only represents 39 of his 159 total plate appearances, but it’s still a large enough sample to merit serious attention.
For the sake of comparison, he’s hitting a sterling .317 against righties. Obviously, this split defies general convention. Typically, right-handed hitters see, and hit the ball better against left-handed pitching. The real question to ponder is why Judge is struggling against pitching he should be dominating.
The answer is shockingly simple. Judge is at his best when he isn’t dead set on pulling the ball. Yes, he can display majestic power when he turns his hips on a ball and launches it into the left field seats. He also can get too carried away trying to do this every at bat.
When you go back and watch his at bats against left handers you see him trying desperately to pull everything. Last night’s game against the Royals was a perfect example. Judge couldn’t get a hit off of Kansas City starter Danny Duffy. While every other Yankee hitter seemed to be teeing off, Judge continued to struggle. He struck out three times on the evening. It was clear he was struggling to pull outside fastballs from the Royals’ lefty.
The solution for Judge is also, thankfully for Yankee fans, pretty simple. Judge needs to concentrate on going with the pitches left-handed pitchers are throwing him. They are getting him out with fastballs on the outer edge. Judge needs to stay back and shoot those balls into right field. That might cost him a few home runs, but it will drastically increase his average. The power will naturally follow an increased percentage of base hits.
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Aaron Judge is enjoying a really good season, but he may need to be great if the Yankees want to win a World Series this season. To make that transition, he’ll need to adjust his approach against left-handed pitching.