ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the Washington Wizards from 2014 to 2016 and the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018 for The Washington Post before covering the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB for the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2024.
NEW YORK — Aaron Judge thought he had struck out again. It was his first at-bat during a Wednesday night matchup with the Oakland Athletics. The 99-mph fastball was at the knees, over the outside corner. A clear strike. No argument. The towering slugger began his slow walk back to the dugout, Juan Soto left standing at first base. Another wasted opportunity.
Until — a break. Finally, a break. The pitcher, A’s right-hander Joe Boyle, hadn’t come to a full stop. A balk. Soto advanced, and Judge was given another chance. The next pitch was another fastball in nearly the same spot. Judge was ready, and he launched the baseball over the right-field wall for a two-run home run.
The New York Yankees‘ dugout erupted. Judge bashed forearms with teammates. All rose at Yankee Stadium for the second time this season. The sequence was the kind of break that has eluded Judge for most of the season — but was it proof that Aaron Judge, the perennial MVP candidate version, is back?
“It’s not back yet,” Judge said. “It’s always a work in progress.”
TWO THINGS CAN be true: One, that a month is a small slice of a season, and two, that Judge has looked uncharacteristically off in the batter’s box for most of this one. After Thursday’s loss to the A’s, Judge is batting .186 with four home runs and a .693 OPS. The low came last Saturday when he earned a golden sombrero against the Tampa Bay Rays and, after the fourth strikeout, was booed at home.
“It’s a long season,” Judge said after hearing the fans’ displeasure. “I’ve had seasons where I start off worse than this in my career. I’ve had seasons where you start off hot and then you always hit a rough patch where you hit about .150 in a whole month … You gotta keep working, gotta keep improving and we’ll get out of it.”
Two key series against the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers and then the Baltimore Orioles, their stiffest competition for the AL East title, loom. And Judge isn’t the only Yankee slow out of the gate — Gleyber Torres was slashing .189/.288/.211 through Wednesday. Anthony Rizzo began the A’s series batting .235 with one home run (he hit two homers over the next two nights). Austin Wells, one of the unluckiest hitters in the majors based on hard-hit rate, was batting .132 even after a two-hit effort Wednesday.
The Yankees tend to score in bunches, which has also meant long droughts have been common. They have already been shut out four times this season. The driving force behind their 17-8 start has been, surprisingly, the pitching staff, even without Gerrit Cole.
“We’re missing the best pitcher in baseball and the staff is still able to do that,” Judge said, “it speaks volumes of the guys we got.”
All they’ve needed is some support — the Yankees are 13-1 when scoring at least five runs — and it’s Judge, along with his new teammate Soto, who hold the heaviest expectations to deliver. This year, new T-shirts — topical in this, another presidential election year — have appeared in the Yankees’ clubhouse.
JUDGE SOTO 2024 MAKE THE YANKEES CHAMPIONS AGAIN
Judge and Soto, arguably the most dangerous one-two punch in the majors, are the ticket the Yankees visualize riding to their 28th World Series title. Soto has done his part, bursting onto the scene with six home runs and 22 RBIs in his first month in pinstripes. Meanwhile, the Yankees have been waiting on Judge to produce to his usual level.
After missing time with an abdominal injury in spring training, Judge’s MRI came back clean, and he’s insisted that he’s healthy. So the 2022 AL MVP has started every game for the Yankees this season — 20 in center field and five as the designated hitter. Yankees manager Aaron Boone has used the DH spot as a chance to occasionally give the 6-foot-7 Judge a day off his feet, after Judge admitted in February that the toe he injured last season will require regular maintenance for the rest of his career.
Boone has stressed he isn’t worried about Judge. He has highlighted Judge’s patience — he ranks in the 94th percentile in walk rate — and work behind the scenes. The track record, he’s said, is too good.
“Just a matter of time,” Boone has repeated for weeks.
JUDGE’S EARLY STRUGGLES have prompted external examination. On Tuesday, MLB Network aired a segment breaking down the difference in Judge’s mechanics between previous years and 2024. The analyst concluded Judge’s hands have started higher this season, and he’s been falling off with his swing on pitches away rather than down and through.
That afternoon, Yankees first-year hitting coach James Rowson emphasized that he sensed Judge was on the brink of breaking out.
“He gets it,” Rowson said. “You come into the game and sometimes there’s some pitches that you might just miss or you get a count where you don’t quite square the ball up. So little things like that happen. Right now, they’re just happening a lot for him and you see them happening together.
“But, for the most part, I like where he’s at. I like the way he’s been working lately. And I feel like, you know, we’re gonna see Aaron Judge be Aaron Judge here pretty soon. So I’m not that concerned.”
In his first at-bat that night, Judge took a sharp slider down and away from A’s right-hander Paul Blackburn for a ball. The next pitch was another slider down and away. Judge took again for ball two.
“That’s a really good sign on just picking up the baseball early, seeing spin, recognizing, and being able to lay off,” YES Network color analyst John Flaherty said on the television broadcast. “You’ve seen Aaron through this tough stretch, even when he takes a pitch, that left hip is leaving. It’s a whole lot better tonight.”
Judge then saw an 89-mph cutter over the plate, a pitch he’s demolished over the years. Instead, he fouled it back. Boone had said earlier that missing those mistake pitches has been the foundation for Judge’s slow start.
“For me, it’s just about when you get your pitch, making sure we do damage with it, and get your swing off,” Boone said. “So he’s just been a tick off in these first few weeks.”
Tuesday, Judge recovered. Two pitches after that, he topped a sinker down the third-base line for a double. Moments later, Giancarlo Stanton smashed a two-run double. The Yankees had a 2-1 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
The next night, Judge’s home run put the Yankees ahead 2-0. It was the 261st homer of the Yankees captain’s career, and with it he passed Derek Jeter, the longest-tenured captain in franchise history, for ninth on the Yankees’ all-time list.
Judge hit the ball hard all game. He snuck a 99.9 mph groundball through the right side for a single in his second at-bat. He pummeled a 106.3 mph lineout to center field in the fourth inning. He smacked a 98.1 mph groundout in the sixth. He ended his night by grounding into a double play in the eighth. Exit velocity: 105.4 mph.
It was Judge’s first multihit game since April 13. With Soto’s sixth home run of the season in the sixth inning, the victory marked the first time the duo has homered in the same game as teammates. Boone joked that watching the tag-team homer made him feel “warm and fuzzy.” His captain is confident it won’t be the last time he has that feeling.
WASHINGTON — Phillies manager Rob Thomson said Thursday that he will utilize a six-man rotation beginning this weekend when Aaron Nola returns from the injured list.
Nola is lined up for the series finale Sunday at Washington. The 32-year-old right-hander is coming back from a right ankle sprain.
Thomson said he isn’t sure how long he is going to use the six-man rotation.
“Once for sure and then we’ve got some other ideas how to attack this thing as we move forward,” he said.
Philadelphia starters lead the majors with 687⅓ innings pitched. Sánchez is up to 150⅔ innings, and Wheeler is at 144⅔.
“Just getting some of these guys some extra rest ’cause we’ve been grinding on them pretty hard all year,” Thomson said before the opener of a four-game set against the Nationals. “The one downside to it is you’ve got to take somebody out of your bullpen, so you’re a little short there but we’ll just have to figure it out.”
Nola hasn’t pitched in the majors since May 14. He posted a 2.19 ERA in three rehab starts with Triple-A Lehigh Valley while striking out 17 batters in 12⅓ innings.
The San Diego Padres placed right-hander Michael King on the 15-day injured list Thursday because of left knee inflammation.
King (4-2, 2.81 ERA) had just come off the IL on Saturday, allowing two runs in as many innings of a no-decision against the Boston Red Sox.
It was his first start since May 18 as he dealt with shoulder inflammation.
Now, he’s back on the IL with a knee issue in a move retroactive to Monday.
It’s a setback for a red-hot Padres team, who will carry a five-game winning streak into a weekend showdown against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. First-place San Diego is one game ahead of L.A. in the NL West.
King had been scheduled to start the series opener Friday.
In the corresponding roster move, the Padres recalled right-hander Randy Vásquez from Triple-A El Paso.
While the Milwaukee Brewers keep on rolling, another Wisconsin business is stocking up on beef and buns.
For the third time in its history, George Webb Restaurants will make good on its promise of giving away free hamburgers as part of a longstanding promotion to celebrate the Brewers winning 12 consecutive games.
The free burger giveaway will be held Wednesday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. CT at all 23 of the restaurant’s locations throughout Wisconsin. Vouchers for a burger at a later date will be available at all locations starting Friday.
“Hungry fans are welcome to stop by any location for a free, juicy burger and some camaraderie with fellow baseball fans,” the restaurant said on its website.
Starting way back in the 1940s, when Milwaukee was home to the minor league Brewers of the old American Association, George Webb promised free burgers if the local baseball team won 17 consecutive games.
The promotion dropped to 13 games by the time the Braves made Milwaukee a big league city in 1953, but that franchise couldn’t make it happen before departing for Atlanta in 1966.
George Webb changed the promotion to 12 games when the Brewers moved from Seattle in 1970. In 1987, the Brewers opened the season with 13 wins in a row, and more than 170,000 burgers were given away to mark the occasion.
The Brewers accomplished the feat a second time in 2018, closing the regular season with eight victories followed by four playoff wins. That streak led to 90,000 free burgers being given away in addition to 100,000 redeemable vouchers.
Prior to reaching the magic mark on Wednesday, the Brewers had come close on a few occasions, including an 11-game winning streak earlier this season.