Pinstripe Preview: Aaron Judge
One
thing comes to mind when you think of Aaron Judge: raw power. At 6’7” and 230
pounds, he is one of the largest players in Major League Baseball and draws
comparison to Giancarlo Stanton of the Miami Marlins. Judge was drafted by the
Yankees 32nd overall in 2013, and has become a highly touted prospect in the
Yankees’ farm system. Yankee fans have continuously heard about Judge’s size
and power over the past couple of years and they finally got a glimpse of it in
2016.
Judge
spent most of 2016 in triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre where he had a slash line
of .270/.366/.489 with 19 homeruns and 65 RBIs. Following the retirement of
Alex Rodriguez, Judge and fellow prospect Tyler Austin were called up to the
big leagues on August 13th. Both rookies burst onto the scene when they became
the first teammates to hit back-to-back homeruns in their first MLB at-bats.
Judge’s homerun showcased his power as it hit off the top of the restaurant
glass in dead centerfield of Yankee Stadium (446 feet, according to MLB.com). Unfortunately,
his success didn’t last long, In 84 at-bats he struck out in 42 of them and had
a slash line of .179/.263/.345. He also only hit four homeruns with 10 RBIs. In
mid-September he suffered an oblique injury that sidelined him for the rest of
the season.
2017 Outlook
Judge
is having a pretty good start to Spring Training, he’s hitting .429 with six
hits, two RBIs and one mammoth homerun that hit off the top of the scoreboard
at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Judge will likely start the season with the
Yankees as long as he’s healthy and continues to perform in Spring Training. My
guess is he will have a RF/DH role on the team, but with the addition of Chris
Carter and Matt Holliday, he will probably play more in right field. Granted,
Aaron Hicks might take over right field when the Yankees are playing against
right handed pitching because that is how Joe Girardi likes to manage.
Hopefully Judge learns from his time on the Yankees last season in August and
September. If he can make the right adjustments at the plate and stay
consistent the Yankees offense can be scary good this season.
Article
by: Paul Alvaro
Follow @PAlvaro18Follow @BronxBomberBlog
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