‘I’m still Aaron Judge’: Why the Yankees’ captain believes he can turn it around
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Jorge Castillo, ESPN Staff Writer
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.
“I’m still Aaron Judge,” Judge said. “I don’t think that’s changed.”
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Ryan S. Clark, NHL reporter
After a week on the bench, Stuart Skinner returned to the net to help the Edmonton Oilers force a Game 7 in their second-round series against the Vancouver Canucks.
Last appearing in Game 3 after struggling to start the series, Skinner made 14 saves in the Oilers’ 5-1 win in Game 6 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta.
Game 7 will be played Monday at Rogers Arena in Vancouver as the winner will face the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference finals starting Thursday at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
“I think by doing what we did tonight, I think we just showed a lot of desperation,” Skinner said on the ESPN broadcast. “Guys were blocking shots all over the place. I think both teams played great. You got to give a lot of credit to Vancouver, but you know Vancouver is going to come out really hard especially in their barn. I think we’re going to have to match that and bring some more.”
Averaging 3.80 goals per game during the playoffs while boasting a defensive structure that’s been among the strongest when it comes to limiting shots on goals and scoring chances is the formula the Oilers have used to come within a game of the Western Conference finals.
Figuring out how the Oilers could mesh their defensive structure with the most consistent version of Skinner, however, was one of those challenges they were trying to solve in a series in which the first five games were decided by a goal.
Especially when the Oilers limited the Canucks to 19.3 shots per game in the first three games only to find themselves down in the series with Skinner posting a 4.63 goals-against average and a .790 save percentage through Game 3.
Saturday saw the connection between the Oilers’ defensive structure and Skinner finally click.
The Oilers, who had limited teams to 24.91 scoring chances per 60, limited the Canucks to 18 scoring chances in 5-on-5 play. They also held the Canucks to just seven high-danger scoring chances and didn’t allow any in the second period.
Combining that defensive consistency with Skinner allowing only one goal on 15 shots added to an evening that saw the Oilers burst through for five goals. It was the third time this postseason and the first time in the second round that the Oilers have scored more than five goals.
Oilers captain Connor McDavid, who finished with three points, told the Sportsnet broadcast after the game that although Skinner didn’t face many shots he did “a great job” handling what McDavid considered to be dangerous chances.
“We never had a doubt,” McDavid said. “He’s a battler. He’s always been a battler. Our team always responds and he’s no different. He responded great and gave us a great performance.”
His role in the Oilers’ Game 6 win is the latest development in what has been another mercurial season for the second-year goaltender.
A year ago, Skinner was a rookie who emerged as the No. 1 goaltender for his hometown team. He helped the Oilers reach the second round only for them to be eliminated in six games by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights.
Skinner was pulled over the final three games of the series, which led to an offseason filled with questions. Much like the Oilers themselves, Skinner had a difficult start to the season but found consistency once the club fired coach Jay Woodcroft and hired Kris Knoblauch.
In that time, Skinner solidified his place as the team’s No. 1 goaltender — which is what made his performances through the first three games so jarring. It led to him being pulled to start the third period in the Oilers’ Game 3 loss, with Knoblauch turning to Calvin Pickard in Games 4 and 5.
Pickard stopped 19 shots in the Oilers’ Game 4 victory while allowing three goals on 35 shots in their 3-2 loss in Game 5 to the Canucks.
Knoblauch said after Game 3 that Skinner would return to the lineup at some point, and that point was Saturday.
Now he and the Oilers are just a win away from the conference finals.
“I think obviously, to start off, I think Calvin was amazing when he got put in,” Skinner said. “Definitely got the job done and kept us in it. An unbelievable teammate. For me, I was able to get a little bit of rest and just work on my game and feel good about it again. I was able to come out and do what I had to do.”
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