Aaron Judge is 1-for-11 with five strikeouts in the ALDS so far, and is now down to a career .203 hitter in the postseason.
Still, the Yankees sit one win away from the ALCS, but how muvh should they be concerned about their slugger’s October struggles?
“Aaron’s having a tough time; he's still getting on base, but he's not the Aaron Judge we expect,” Audacy MLB Insider Bret Boone told BT & Sal Thursday. “If you look back at history, there have been so many star type players that had a lot of struggles in the postseason – Barry Bonds was noted for it, and Clayton Kershaw, one of the greatest pitchers of all-time, has not had any postseason success. But it's a situation where unlike Soto, who's got the protection of Judge, he doesn’t have any cover. You always go into a series and pick one guy who’s not going to beat you, and Judge doesn’t look like he has looked all year – but he didn't look like Judge in April either, so you gotta roll with it and see what happens.”
Boone has seen it plenty of times, and with no true protection behind him, Judge is going to be pitched to more carefully – which is why, perhaps, Giancarlo Stanton’s big Game 3 was important for more than just his stat line.
“Tonight might be the night, who knows, with Stanton last night coming up with a big game,” Boone said. “That's why Stanton's been so important for this team. It’s not that he’s Judge or Soto, but it's the presence of him in the lineup. He got three knocks, a homer last night, that was huge.”
Judge hasn’t had great protection all year and still had the season he did, but as BT noted, his approach looks ‘jumpy’ right now – is he feeling the pressure of the pinstripes and changing his ways?
“I think you’re right, and that gets to us; we're all human. Aaron Judge is the best offensive player I think on the planet right now, but you look at his body of work, he’s hitting right around .200 closing in on 200 postseason at-bats, and that starts to wear on you," Boone said. "Even the greatest of the greats, you know, they're still vulnerable; we have egos, but we're also very insecure when it comes to a real bad streak, and those things creep in. He knows he’s the captain of that team, the biggest franchise in sports, on the biggest stage, he's well aware that he hasn't had that much postseason success. So without a doubt, as great as he is, he’s still human, and he’s starting to feel it.”