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The theories about Aaron Judge being “lost” at the plate as the Yankees face a must-win World Series win


The theories about Aaron Judge being “lost” at the plate as the Yankees face a must-win World Series win

Yankees superstar Aaron Judge has certainly heard it all. By far the best batsman in the game, he barely hits the ball.

Are they the great October pitchers? Is Judge doing something different or wrong?

Is it the pitch or the pressure? The mechanics or the approach?


Aaron Judge has one hit in the World Series.
Aaron Judge has one hit in the World Series. Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

When I hear about it, I can only imagine what he's dealing with. The theories are nearly endless — until he starts being the judge, leading 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 in October hitting .150, with nearly half of his at-bats resulting in strikeouts (19 of 40).

According to one NL scout, it's both his mechanics and his approach.

“The reason Judge is so streaky is because of his mechanics and approach: 1) He swings uphill, lags on the bottom half… no adjustability,” the scout said. “Limited accuracy with this swing. Sometimes he gets away with it because he's the greatest person to ever play the game and he can hit balls over the fence, and 2) his approach is to leave his A swing, every swing, no matter what.

“When was the last time you saw Judge get off balance and take a punch? He can't. His mechanics allow for no adjustability and his approach is to swing as hard as he can regardless of pitch. There’s just no fight right now.”


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This is a bit of an insider explanation, but it's 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.”


Judge is releasing a lot this offseason.
Judge is releasing a lot this offseason. Jason Scenes/New York Post

An AL scout said he saw the same thing in April before Judge corrected it.

“He broke away from his regular-season approach of hitting the ball to the right or right-center.”

The pressure to live up to fantastic regular seasons can be intense for some, an NL scout said. “Sometimes things can get a little quick for some great players when they get on this stage for the first time.”

Another NL scout agrees. “He’s in between with the fastball and the breaking ball. I'm guessing a bit. Saw it in Cleveland. Urge…no doubt.”

Others say it's the opposition, and in this case the Dodgers, known as the analytics team, had at least five advance scouts in the championship series.

An AL scout says the Dodgers have his number.

“Such a dangerous hitter when he can stretch his arms,” the AL scout said, “but his main weakness has been there all year — I feel like playoff teams are generally just better at focusing to prepare each team’s main weakness and execute on them.”

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