Aaron Judge was batting in the leadoff spot again for the Yankees in Friday’s game two loss, and struck out four times. He was hitting in the same spot in the order in game one, when he struck out three times, and for much of the stretch run of the regular season.
It is not a tactic that Alex Rodriguez likes, as he ripped the decision during Fox Sports’ coverage of the NLDS.
“This is gimmicky baseball,” Rodriguez said. “You cannot let your best player, your best hitter hitting first. Babe Ruth didn’t do it. Barry Bonds didn’t do it. Frank [Thomas] didn’t do it. [David Ortiz] didn’t do it. I didn’t do it. It doesn’t exist. The reason why is because you want to protect — you play chess. It’s like the queen of the chess board. You want to put the best two hitters in front, and the best two hitters behind, and protect. The Yankees are putting the worst two hitters — the eighth and ninth hitter. It puts an enormous amount of pressure. You want him to come up in that first at-bat and be very relaxed, see 12 or 14 pitches like I used to do with [Derek] Jeter and [Johnny] Damon and maybe [Mark)] Teixeira, and maybe pop a three-run homer. It’s ridiculous that this guy’s hitting leadoff and it’s a mistake.
“I don’t know who’s doing it — Boone or Cashman — but somebody has to change that immediately.”
Judge started in the leadoff spot 34 times in the regular season, much of it down the stretch. In the last 34 games of the season, Judge slashed .372/.526/.788 with 13 home runs, and the Yankees went 21-13. But he spent the vast majority of the season hitting second in the lineup, though the loss of DJ LeMahieu and the continued unreliability of Aaron Hicks seems to have changed Boone’s strategy.
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