Rising Yankees star just had one of the worst days in baseball history
If you take a look at New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge’s overall statistics for the 2018 season, you’d think he’s having a pretty good year.
And you wouldn’t be wrong. The defending American League Rookie of the Year is hitting a solid .276, with 16 home runs, 41 runs batted in and a .402 on-base percentage. Right now, he’s on track to crush 41 home runs and drive in 119 runs over the course of a full season.
But what those stats won’t tell you is that Judge is coming off not just the worst day of his career, but one of the worst days in the history of Major League Baseball.
The Yankees played a double-header against the Tigers on Monday, and though they were able to win one of those games, Judge’s performance had nothing to do with that victory.
The right fielder started both games for the Yankees and went 0-for-9 with a whopping eight strikeouts. No player has ever struck out more times in a double-header.
In the Yankees double-header vs the Tigers today, Aaron Judge went a combined 0-9 with 8 strikeouts – the most in a double-header since strikeouts for hitters were first recorded (h/t @EliasSports) pic.twitter.com/icM25VAUaP
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 5, 2018
“That’s not just a rough day, that’s a terrible day,” Judge said afterward, according to the New York Post. “But that’s the beauty of baseball, you get to start fresh (Tuesday) in Toronto. There’s nothing else you can do.”
Judge struck out swinging three times in the opener, which the Yankees won 7-4. He went down five times in the second game, which the Yankees lost 4-2. He struck out swinging three times in the second game and took a called third strike twice.
“That’s just the nature of his at-bats,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone. “He gets so deep in counts and he takes so many close pitches that he’ll have the occasional day like this. But he could just as easily have put a big swing on one. I don’t think he’s fazed by that at all.”
Strikeouts have always been an issue for Judge. Last season, he went down on strikes 208 times, but still smashed 52 homers and hit .284. He’s struck out 84 times this year, putting him on track for 240 over the course of a full season.
But Judge isn’t particularly worried.
“No matter what you do in the past, either good or bad, it’s not going to help you in tomorrow’s game,” Judge said, per NJ.com. “If I went 4-for- 4 or 0-for-4, none of those at-bats are going to help me tomorrow when we’re playing Toronto, so why worry about them?”
“You learn from them. You learn from mistakes.”
Yankees star Giancarlo Stanton, who has also struggled with strikeouts this season, is confident that Judge will “bounce back.”
“He’ll bounce back,” Stanton said. “I’ve gone through it. He’s gone through it. He’ll bounce back for sure. Throw it in the trash and he’ll help us in Toronto.”
Boone said he wasn’t sure whether Judge would start Tuesday against the Blue Jays. But once he does return to the lineup, it sounds like Judge will be motivated to mash.
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