If it weren’t pointed out, you probably wouldn’t have been able to tell. Aaron Judge made a slight change in his batting stance and it turned out to be the best thing for him, as he continues to be one of baseball’s most efficient hitters. According to MLB.com, last April, Judge made a slight change to his stance, standing more square to the pitcher, and it completely changed his hitting efficiency.
Per an MLB.com story, from July 2023 until April 2024, Judge’s stance was anywhere from 19 degrees to 26 degrees open. It was a game against Tarik Skubal and the Detroit Tigers when Judge decided to make the subtle change in May 2024. Since then, he hasn’t had a stance wider than nine degrees open.
It doesn’t sound like much. But this April compared to last April isn’t just night and day, it’s historic. In the first 25 games of this season, Judge was slashing .415/.513/.734, the best April of his career. That all can be traced back to that one simple change.
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Aaron Judge doesn’t need a torpedo bat to dominate
The New York Yankees dominated headlines this year with the new torpedo bat. They started smashing baseballs left and right and the deformed bat became the topic of the start of the season. One player that decided they didn’t want to use the torpedo bat was Judge.
It turned out he didn’t need it because he was already one of baseball’s most efficient hitters without one. He also knew what he needed to do to improve his consistency and power. It boiled down to changing his stance; it had nothing to do with the bat.
In every season Judge has played 155 or more games, he has over 50 home runs. He already has eight this season, the third most in the AL and MLB. Judge has the highest batting average at .406, the only player with a batting average higher than .400.