Yankees captain Aaron Judge supports struggling teammate Aaron Hicks

Yankees captain Aaron Judge is demonstrating his leadership as he consoled struggling teammate Aaron Hicks.

In Tuesday’s loss vs the Phillies, Yankees left fielder Aaron Hicks struggled again, going 0-3 with a strikeout, including in a critical 7th inning spot down four runs. The consistently negative results that Hicks puts up have prompted fans to shower Hicks with some of the loudest boos we’ve seen so far.

As seen in the above clip, Yankees captain Aaron Judge displays the leadership effect he has shown over the last few years, as he pats his teammate on the back and talks to him. Judge was asked postgame about the conversation with Hicks and said, “We’ll keep that to ourselves. Most of it was asking what he saw at the plate, get his mind off some things and get a scouting report. It’s early in the season, people are going to struggle”.

Judge is once again doing his best to shield his teammates from the outside. He knows very well that the New York media is not easy to play in. He did this type of thing before where he talked to Yankees reliever Greg Weissert after a rough debut vs the Oakland A’s last year.

As for Hicks, a source of Yankee fans’ anger comes from comments he earlier this week, talking with The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty about his role with the Yankees.

"“I have no idea what my role is. It’s kind of uncertain. I just want to play. I don’t want to come off the bench and face closers all day. I want to play the field, I want to play every day, and it’s just what I want to do. I want to start. I really don’t know what else to say.”"

Things may be coming to a head for Aaron Hicks and the Yankees

The California native  Hicks is already 0-for-7 on the year with three strikeouts. He has been struggling for the last few years. The anger has been boiling for a while, and it seems like everyone is fed up. However, Aaron Boone has said and shown that he will get his at-bats, although he did sit the next day for Franchy Cordero, who had a two-run double on Monday.

From my view of the game at section 317 on Tuesday, when Hicks was in the hole, Anthony Rizzo was waiting on the top step of the dugout next to the coaches and looked disappointed when he saw Hicks take his bat from the rack.

Although the Yankees certainly don’t want to lose the man they paid $70 million to over seven years for nothing plus dead space, a decision on his future looms. If he is still with the Yankees by Aug. 8, he receives 10-5 rights. Having 10 years of MLB service and 5 with the same team grants you the power to veto any trade. Essentially, his money is 100 percent locked into the Yankee’s payroll if not released by then.

Even if for some reason, Hicks continues to be a Yankee by the final day of his contract, expect the Captain, No. 99 to be there on his teammate’s side.