BALTIMORE — Quietly elite. Thriving under the radar.
These are precisely not phrases you would use to describe Aaron Judge in 2017. They’re pretty darn apt for his 2018, though, aren’t they?
For even as the reigning American League Rookie of the Year is on pace to grace fewer Post back pages than he did during his explosive 2017, he’s essentially on pace to match his baseball production from last year.
“Repeating, trying to repeat success, it never gets easier,” Judge said Thursday, before rain postponed the opener of the Yankees’ four-game series with the last-place Orioles at Camden Yards.
He can boast a .292/.423/.585 slash line and 15 homers in 53 games, and that gave him a 170 OPS+, which is calculated by comparing Judge’s ballpark-adjusted numbers to the rest of the league. Last year, when he finished with a .284/.422/.627 slash, he wound up with a 171 OPS+.
While he moves on a pace to fall short of last year’s league-leading 52 homers, he has made up for that with more singles and doubles — with 12 two-baggers, he already had half of last year’s 24 — not to mention improved defensive metrics.
“He’s been great,” manager Aaron Boone said of Judge. “He really has been so consistent for us. I feel like the at-bat quality for him, all the things we talk about with you guys every day. Grinding out at-bats. He just makes it so hard on the pitcher. You can see the pitcher really have to work so hard, pitch carefully to him.
“He controls the strike zone. Obviously the power. He’s just been one of the best players in the league on a nightly basis for us.”He has been, by any reasonable measure; he might prove to be the rare freshman sensation who exceeds that high bar (of overall value, if not necessarily home runs) in his sophomore campaign. Yet has not been as hot a topic in The Bronx, for which multiple explanations exist.
1) Even though Judge is on pace to be aligned with his production from last year, remember that he concluded with that production only after a massive slump following the All-Star break, which we can now attribute to a left-shoulder injury sustained at the Home Run Derby. Through 53 games last year, Judge stood at a ridiculous 326/.433/.691, with 18 homers.
2) You naturally get less coverage when you don’t lead the league in homers, as Judge did last year and doesn’t now.
3) Gleyber Torres has assumed Judge’s role of “Sensational rookie” and has received the buzz that comes with that.
4) Judge’s fellow behemoth Giancarlo Stanton, the new Yankee and the reigning National League Most Valuable Player, has been a daily story through his few highs and many lows.
Judge insisted that he feels no different when it comes to external pressure or scrutiny, and that he’s fine with that reality.“We’ve got a really good team, and people want to talk about it,” Judge said. “They want to talk about Gleyber. ‘What do you got on Gleyber?’ With this team we’ve got here, it’ll never get easier. It’s going to just keep building. That’s part of it. To whom much is given, much is required. So that’s part of it.”
For Judge to match his exceptional value from last year, he must avoid anything like his post-All-Star break slowdown from 2017.
“My goal every year is to come in and be consistent,” Judge said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s the first game of the year or it’s the last game of the year. With nobody on base, with guys on base, I just want to be (the guy who), when you come to the ballpark, you know what you’re gonna get.”
He has met that goal to date, quietly. With all of the attractions on this Yankees team, and with all of their success, Judge might be a silent assassin all the way through September.