New York Yankees fans already have plenty of reasons to panic. The pitching staff and Minor-League depth have been thoroughly ravaged by injuries, Gerrit Cole is done for the season, the Giancarlo Stanton saga is filled with head-spinning bad news and the third-base position is a gaping hole.
Make no mistake, the Yankees still have a strong team. Behind their captain, Aaron Judge, the New York still appears postseason-bound. However, it is Judge of all people that has quietly added to the long list of concerns this spring training.
While everyone was busy marveling at the Yankees’ bewildering misfortune, the captain is putting together some of the worst numbers on the team. New York’s biggest superstar is 3-of-26 at the plate with no home runs and 14 strikeouts this spring.
Needless to say, if Judge doesn’t perform well this season, 2025 will be a lost year for the Yankees. Is it time to panic?
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Is Aaron Judge’s awful spring a cause for concern for Yankees?
Before the panic button is pressed, let’s take a step back and a deep breath. Yes, a .115 batting average is worrisome, and definitely not a reason to rise when the Judge enters. But for his entire career, Judge has been somewhat of a streaky hitter. When Judge is on his game, which is most of the time, baseballs are flying into orbit and his batting average is great. But when he isn’t, he falls into devastating slumps where strikeouts are more than abundant.
However, the fabled Yankee slugger has yet to come across a slump he hasn’t bested. Whenever Judge finds himself mired in a cold spell, he has always emerged in MVP-type fashion. And it’s also worth mentioning that Judge’s numbers in March/April, while still great, aren’t quite as great as in the rest of the season. Judge tends to record less homers per at-bat and his average and on-base percentage over his career stand lower than in the other months. We can expect to see him at his best throughout the middle part of the season.
Indeed, it seems Judge is battling another slump; and this certainly is an ugly one. But Yankee fans can rejoice in the fact that it is plaguing him in spring training and not during the regular season. Hopefully, his annual slump is finished by the time Opening Day rolls around and we can see Judge return to business as usual for the rest of the season. For now, the panic button can be safely stored out of sight and out of mind.