It hasn’t been a perfect start at the dish for Aaron Judge, but I don’t know why we have to make it a bigger deal than what it is. Judge is the best hitter in baseball by a wide margin and the New York Yankees know that. We need the Yankees fan base to get on the same page, though I think most do.
Skipper Aaron Boone spoke about Judge and said it better than anyone could have. Instead of worrying at all, Boone went the wise route and spoke about how it’s early in the season and guys are still trying to put it all together.
“It’s early in the season. He’s kind of finding it,” Boone said, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. “He’s not like anyone else, though. He’s searching for it a little bit here this series, and he hits two big home runs. As I always say, he’s playing a different game.”
Even with Judge struggling a good bit for his standards, he still has two home runs in 20 at-bats. Bad for his standards? Sure, but the multi-time MVP Award winner is still playing just fine if we consider this time he’s struggling.
Regardless, the Yankees as a team have played well this season, sitting at 4-1. For Judge, that’s much more important than anything else.
“In the past couple years we struggled at kind of finishing our series and sweeping series, so we tried to make it a point in pre-game,” Judge said. “We talked about it.”
At the same time, Judge playing well is just as important as anything in the league. If the Yankees want to be the team they’re looking to be, Judge will have to swing it at a high level, and ESPN noted that, as some ranked him as the top player in the game and most valuable.
"In the end, I'll admit I was probably wrong in my top 100 ranking," wrote David Schoenfield, who ranked Judge over Shohei Ohtani as the best player in MLB going into the season. "As long as Ohtani pitches enough innings, his two-way value will be difficult to beat. But it's close. Close enough that the debate remains — unlike many Ohtani or Judge fly balls — in play."