BBB Top Prospect Countdown #1: Aaron Judge
He’s
the Yankees first round pick in the 2013 Amateur Draft out of Fresno State.
He’s an outfielder in the Yankees farm system. He stands at 6’7”, and he weighs
275 pounds. He’s one of the most intimidating players in minor league baseball.
He has a strong arm, and is a huge power bat. He also wears #99 in Scranton. His
name is Aaron Judge, and he’s the Yankees top prospect.
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| Photo Via Today's Knuckleball |
For
starters, Judge looks like he comes straight out of a videogame. I know I
mentioned his size, but allow me to reiterate it. The man stands at 6 feet, 7
inches tall and weighs 275 pounds! As a corner outfielder, that kind of size is
unique to the position and a major reason that he is such a highly touted
prospect.
But
Judge didn’t become the Yankees top prospect solely based on size alone,
although it did help him garner some of the attention he has. Judge showed his
offensive ability in his first season as a professional in 2014 hitting
.308/.419/.486 with 17 home runs, 78 RBI, 24 doubles and an OPS of .905 in 131
games. Judge would also play in the Arizona Fall League where he produced (as
many Yankee prospects do in the AFL) hitting .278 with four homers and five
doubles in 24 games. He also showcased his arm strength was 4 outfield assists
in those games.
Judge
was a non-roster invitee to the Yankees spring training roster and his spring began
with a bang. In the Yankees first Judge hit a game-tying 3-run blast in the
ninth inning to tie the game. He finished the spring strong, but was still not
ready to make the league to the major leagues.
Judge
split the 2015 season almost even between Trenton and Scranton playing 63 games
with the double-A affiliate and 61 with the triple-A affiliate. Judge would
rise to the occasion shining with the Trenton Thunder putting together a slash
line of .284/.350/.516 with 12 dingers and 14 doubles.
However,
upon reaching AAA, Judge experienced his first struggles as a professional
baseball player. Judge saw his slash line drop across the board to a mere
.224/.308/.373 as he struggled particularly hitting MLB-ready off-speed
pitches. Although this presented the Yankees top prospect with a learning
curve, Judge used his struggles as a time to work his approach to hitting and
his discipline, because his swing is one that lacks any major flaws.
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| Photo Via MILB.com |
“It
helped me work on my patience,” Judge said. “That’s the biggest thing. At
Double-A I saw a lot of guys that really came after you. Triple-A was a lot of
older guys that had been in the league, up and down, and they know how to
pitch. Just trying to wait back and get your pitch is really the biggest thing
for me.”
This
Spring, Judge is once again a non-roster invitee and is being mentored by
Carlos Beltran. Ironically, Judge is the likely successor to Beltran in right
field so this relationship makes all the sense in the world.
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| Photo Via Times Leader |
“He’s
a guy, the future of this organization, and I feel like I’ll help him,” Beltran
said. “When I was growing up and in the big leagues the first year, I had some
veteran guys who took care of me, helped me, along the way.”
Already,
Judge has impressed at big league camp hitting a towering 400+ foot bomb over
the massive scoreboard in left-center field at the Yankees spring training
facility. Although he is not yet on the 40-man roster, Judge is an injury away,
or a hot streak in the minors away from being added to that 40-man and getting
the call-up to the Bronx.
Projection
Being
the Yankees top prospect across many boards, with others crowning Jorge Mateo
as the top prospect, Judge obviously brings a lot of excitement to Yankee fans
and fans of baseball. The highly anticipated “Judgement Day” as it has been
referred to on social media is closer than we expect.
“I
think it’s adjusting how pitchers are going to pitch him, is the bottom line,” Yankees
manager Joe Girardi said. “He went from a league where he was doing really well
in Double-A and had some struggles in Triple-A, but you have a lot of crafty
people in Triple-A. It’s learning to make adjustments and we feel that he’s
made some adjustments in his swing that should help with that.”
Judge has certainly experienced the highs as a Yankee prospect and he seems to have the necessary mindset to becoming a successful big leaguer.
"You're
always going to have ups and downs and I kind of learn more from the negative
than the positive," Judge said when asked about his offseason workouts.
"So just trying to build on that for the next year was really the
goal."
Judge
should have a large impact for the Yankees upon becoming a regular in right
field for the Yankees. It’s pretty safe to say that the he is one of the most
exciting position players to come out of the Yankees farm system in recent
memory.
Judge
turns 24 just over three weeks into the season, and he will start the season in
familiar territory with the RailRiders. Judge also needs rule-5 draft
protection this fall so for that reason, and him being the highly touted
prospect that he is, it is safe to say he will be an addition to the 40-man
roster at some point this year. My expectation is that we see Judge as a
September call-up, but if he makes the adjustment and rakes minor league
pitching, or the Yankees outfield can’t stay healthy, he may be up sooner than
expected. But rest assured, he’s on the cusp of receiving a call-up, and that
is a day Yankee fans are chomping at the bit for, for good reason – he’s a big
deal. Check out his MLB comparisons below to see just how big of a deal he is.
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| Photo via @Yankees on twitter |
MLB Comparison: Giancarlo Stanton and
Dave Winfield
Article by: Chad Raines
Follow
me on twitter @Chad_Rain
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