Aaron Judge criticized at Yankee Stadium after golden sombrero lowers AVG to.179. I’ve heard worse

admin | April 21, 2024 | Other Clubs | No Comments

The New York Yankees entered 2024 with a powerful tandem of Juan Soto and Aaron Judge in the lineup. So far, the latter has been somewhat static.

Judge had a golden sombrero in Saturday’s 2-0 extra-inning defeat to the Tampa Bay Rays, striking out in all four plate appearances to drop his season batting average to.179. The former MVP was met with scattered boos at Yankee Stadium after his final strikeout.

Judge is currently hitting.179/.323/.359 with three home runs on the season. Those troubles haven’t entirely derailed the Yankees, who remain 14-7 after the setback.

“I’ve heard worse,” Judge said of the boos following the game. “I’d probably be doing the same thing in their situation.”

Indeed he has.

The Yankees, for their part, did not appear to be concerned that Judge had suddenly fallen off a cliff, as manager Aaron Boone told MLB.com:

“It’s hitting, man,” Boone said. “We’ll be here next year talking about a great player that’s in a little funk. We’re in April. It happens all the time with greatness every year. We’ll scratch our heads, and then you’ll look up in a few weeks and, wow, Aaron Judge is Aaron Judge.”

Boone acknowledged that he sees Judge’s swings “a little in and out of the zone,” noting that hitting “gets a little hard, even for the best of the best.”

It’s not just bad luck that has plagued Judge this season, but a.224 BABIP — more than 100 points lower than his lifetime mark of.337 — reveals that some balls have simply fallen for him. However, Statcast now shows him with an 11.5% pop-up percentage on balls in play, which is by far his career high, and a 21.2% line-drive rate, which is his lowest since his 27-game rookie season in 2016.

According to Baseball Savant, Judge’s xBA, which combines batted ball statistics and strikeout rate to estimate a player’s batting average, is currently.230, with an xSLG (same as slugging percentage) of.431.

Judge’s 28.1% strikeout rate would be concerning for most players, but Judge has always struck out at a high rate. That figure was even higher previous season, at 28.4%, as he hit.267/.406/.613. His career percentage is 28.6%. Judge’s punch-outs make him unlikely to win a batting crown, but he remains a top player as long as he crushes the ball when he does make contact.

So Judge isn’t striking out frequently, but his quality of contact has been slightly poorer this season. Maybe there’s reason to be concerned about a $360 million player turning 32 next week, but it’s also crucial to remember that it’s April.

We are talking about three weeks of poor performance, which Judge has witnessed previously. He came out perfectly well in those circumstances.