Yankee fans may be frustrated with the clarity of Aaron Judge’s soreness to start the season, which has already resulted in consecutive days off on two different occasions, but it’s hard to argue the benefits when Judge is back on the field.
On Friday night, after he missed two straight games and was pulled from Tuesday night’s game due to “lower body soreness,” Judge blasted a home run off the batter’s eye in dead center, then went deep again with a grand slam the opposite way into the second deck to remind everyone of his impact when he’s on the field.
For Boone, one of his biggest tasks of the year will be to keep the oft-injured Judge on the field as much as possible, and it looks like “playing the long game,” as Boone called it, will be the game plan, resting Judge when he can to “stay ahead” of potential injuries and maximize Judge’s availability.
Judge reminded everyone what he can do when he is healthy and available, and Boone puts Judge’s importance and ability up against anyone else in the league.
“He’s almost won an MVP and he’s been Rookie of the Year, and I think that’s what his ceiling is, to be one of, if not the best player in the league,” Boone said. “He’s a guy that is a real MVP candidate.”
Judge is far removed from his lone healthy season, his historic rookie campaign in 2017 when he missed out on an MVP to Jose Altuve, but he put together another All-Star season in 2018 before a fractured wrist limited him to just 112 games. Getting hit by a pitch is hardly a symptom of being injury prone, but then injuries began to pile on after, with Judge playing in just 102 games in 2019 and 28 last year, less than half of the shortened season. But when he was on the field, he was his typical self, slugging .536 with a .917 OPS from 2018-20.
This year, he holds a .953 OPS in 81 at-bats, and has been the best bat in the Yankee lineup. For Boone, that value needs to be maximized so Judge ca be in the lineup as often as possible, and remind everyone of his superstar potential.
“Like all the truly great impact players, he’s one of those guys,” Boone said. “When you look around the league now and you see the Trouts and the Betts and Acunas and Sotos and Freemans, go on down the list, those handful of guys that are truly special players. And when you talk about just the offensive side, guys that are capable of being in that .900, .950, .1000-plus OPS, those are really special players and impact games in big ways.”
Judge was seen as one of the best young stars in the game by the time he suffered his wrist injury in 2018, but injuries have caused others to take over some of that hype. Perhaps his 6-foot-7 frame needs more rest than others, and if that means playing 130 games instead of risking another 100-game season, so be it. Boone feels Judge is too valuable to risk an extended absence. He was reminded of that on Friday.
“I would never want to put a cap on what Aaron is capable of doing in a full season at this point of his career,” Boone said. He’s a great two-way player, he’s a tremendous outfielder as well. He’s one of the faces of the sport for a reason.
I guess MVP is his ceiling…He’s a special offensive player to go along with being a great right fielder.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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