Even Aaron Judge can’t quite replicate Paul Goldschmidt’s batting

Paul Goldschmidt’s ability to change his approach mid-count is stumping even the best of hitters that try to replicate it.

Aaron Judge has already waved the white flag on trying to be Paul Goldschmidt.

With every pitch thrown in an at-bat, the strategy changes on both sides. A pitcher-catcher battery might be going after a certain kind of pitch with the count a certain way or in succession with another. A batter might start thinking about trying to get a ball through a particular gap based on what he expects to come his way rather than just trying to get a hit in general.

On the batter’s side, a common time for in-count strategy changes to come up is with two strikes. At that point, you’re a strike away from being sent back to the dugout and may need to take a new method on. Oftentimes, that means a physical change to the approach at the plate for situational hitting purposes.

Certain batters stand out with their physical strategies on two strikes. Some choke up on the bat, like Anthony Rizzo.

Paul Goldschmidt is known for taking less of a “step” with his front foot when he has two strikes against him. His no-stride/smaller-stride approach helped him obtain the highest slugging percentage with two strikes against him (.435) in 2022 in all of MLB.

It was something Aaron Judge toyed around with during spring training under the guidance of Goldschmidt. Here’s what Judge told Joel Sherman of the New York Post during spring:

"“I told [Goldschmidt], ‘I saw you up close and I watched your videos, talk to me about your approach,’ ” Judge said. “He has a smaller, little stride [with two strikes] and kind of waits there. That’s something I want to mix in. So I asked, ‘How do you do that? What’s your thought process in this situation or that?’”"

And with that, Judge started toying around with that no-stride approach. Just a few series into the new year, and it’s already been abandoned:

Judge told Bryan Hoch that it felt good in the cages but in-games were a tougher adjustment. Clearly, what Goldschmidt does is harder to employ in-game than it might appear.

Paul Goldschmit’s 2-strike success is tough to replicate exactly

Judge proved he’s one of the greatest hitters of all time in 2022 when he broke the American League record for home runs in a single season. For him to be unable to bring Goldschmidt’s patented “no stride” style to 2-strike counts in-game is proof of how challenging it is to make that change mid-count.

Judge, clearly, doesn’t exactly need it. He has four home runs already this season (putting him on-pace to break his own home run record, for what it’s worth) and half of them have come in counts where the outfielder has two strikes against him. So far this year he also has the eighth-best slugging percentage on 2-strike counts (his teammate, Gleyber Torres, is a few spots ahead of him).

And for what it’s worth, Goldschmidt has struggled mightily on two-strike counts so far this year, going just 2-for-17 so far. It’s still early, so that’s something to watch. It’s possible the mid-count changes are harder to make mentally and physically with the brand new pitch clock making things much more rapid.

Goldschmidt has made his name with the no-stride approach, and a hitter as accomplished as Judge being unable to work it into his own approach speaks volumes of how tricky this is.