It is hard to imagine that outfielder Aaron Judge will come anywhere close to replicating his 2022 season, but New York Yankees hitting coach Dillon Lawson said believes he could repeat and maybe even improve on the campaign.
“He wants to get better,” Lawson said, via Brendan Kuty of The Athletic. “He's always asking you, ‘What do you got for me?'”
Lawson then went on to say that Judge is the type of player to examine stretches of his season to determine why he was good or bad.
“He'll ask, ‘What do you think was going on with this stretch?” Lawson said, via Kuty. “Picking something's apart and making sure where our sights are aimed this year, making sure we're in the right direction. We want to maintain those strengths, maintain that performance, as difficult as that may be, then take another step forward. Is that possible? I think it is with him, for sure.”
That is quite an ambitious goal for Aaron Judge, and Lawson as well. However, it is likely the mindset that led Judge to his ridiculous 2022 campaign, in which he broke Roger Maris' American League record for home runs by hitting 62.
The MVP season was well-timed for Judge, who was a free agent at the end of last season. Judge eventually re-signed with the Yankees on a nine-year $360 million contract.
Judge will likely have to put up a big season again for the Yankees to succeed in 2023. The Yankees did bolster its rotation with the addition of Carlos Rodon, but the offense remains the same, and that is what led to the team's demise in October.
The Yankees scored nine runs in a four-game sweep by the Houston Astros in the 2022 ALCS. Anthony Rizzo is returning to the Bronx as well, and that should help, but the Yankees lineup looks to be very similar to the 2022 version.
Judge will need to be at the center of the Yankees' success again in 2023, and it seems that him and coach Lawson are banking on that happening.
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