In the month of April, many were concerned about Aaron Judge's sluggish start after seemingly never going through a slump in the 2022 and 2023 seasons with the New York Yankees. Towards the end of April and basically since the calendar turned to May, Judge has set the league on fire and is the favorite to win the American League MVP. On May 5, Judge closed his stance a bit, and hit a home run off of Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal. He opened up on what that changed did for him.
“Just staying on the away pitch a little better,” Aaron Judge said, via Brendan Kuty of The Athletic. “A lot of teams, they love to throw slider away, slider away and then show heaters inside and then slider away — the same thing. Just if I start a little closed or a little more straight up, which is what I usually like to do, I can kind of stay on those a little better.”
The results have been great since then, as he has produced at historic levels and helped the Yankees be one of the best teams in MLB in 2024. Judge also said that the change helps him land in a better position to hit those outside pitches that are often thrown against him.
“I always want to get back to square when I land,” Judge said, via Kuty. “But sometimes if I'm starting way out there, sometimes I feel like I never got back to being square, so that pitch away felt even farther. So if I start more square, you have a better chance to stay on some balls.”
Why did Aaron Judge make this adjustment?
In baseball, it is hard to know when and when not to make an adjustment, and given Judge's success in 2022 and 2023, it could have been justified for him to keep his approach due to the results he had gotten in the past. However, Judge said he decided to make the adjustment due to studying his own film
“There's certain things that you have to stick the course with and you know things will turn (around),” Judge said, via Kuty. “But these are the little things where you just watch your tape and analyze your game and little things can stick out and it's like, well, let me see if this will work.”
Clearly the adjustment worked, and Judge will need to continue to produce, as the Yankees are in a dead heat for the American League East title with the Baltimore Orioles.
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