Yankees superstar Aaron Judge surely has heard it all by now. The game’s greatest hitter by a mile is barely hitting the ball at all.
Is it the great October pitchers? Is it Judge doing something different, or wrong?
Is it the pitches or the pressure? The mechanics or the approach?
If I’m hearing about it, I can only imagine what he’s dealing with. The theories are almost endless — that is, until he starts being the Judge who led the majors in home runs (58), on-base percentage (.458), slugging percentage (.701) and OPS (1.159). The current version entered Game 3 of the World Series hitting .150 in October with nearly half his at-bats resulting in strikeouts (19 of 40).
It’s both his mechanics and his approach, according to one NL scout.
“The reason Judge is so streaky is in his mechanics and his approach: 1) he swings uphill, stuck back with his lower half … zero adjustability,” the scout said. “Limited barrel accuracy with this swing. He gets away with it at times because he is the largest human who has ever played and he can mishit balls over the fence, and 2) his approach is to get off his A-swing, every swing, no matter what.
“When’s the last time you saw Judge off balance and get a hit? He can’t. His mechanics don’t allow for adjustability and his approach is to swing as hard as he can no matter the pitch. There is just no battle right now.”
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That’s one of the more insider explanations, but it is also quite insightful. There are many more thoughts.
“He’s lost,” says one longtime baseball expert. “He can’t see anything down in the zone with spin.”
One AL scout said he saw the same thing in April before Judge corrected it.
“He has gotten away from his regular-season approach of trying to hit the ball to right or right center.”
The pressure of living up to fabulous regular seasons can get strong for some, one NL scout said. “First time on this stage for some great players at times can get a little fast even for them.”
Another NL scout agrees. “He’s in-between on the fastball and breaking ball. Guessing a bit. Saw it in Cleveland. Pressing … no doubt.”
Others say it’s the opposition, and in this case the Dodgers, known as an analytics team, had at least five advance scouts on the championship series.
One AL scout says the Dodgers have his number.
“Such a dangerous hitter when he can extend his arms,” the AL scout said, “but his primary weakness has been there all year — feels to me that playoff teams are just typically better at preparing and executing for each team’s primary weakness.”