The New York Yankees have had one of the hottest starts to the season in all of baseball. Aaron Boone’s team is 8-5 and in first place in the AL East, thanks mostly to their elite pitching staff.
The offense, however, has been a different story, and that’s especially the case with Aaron Judge.
The superstar slugger hasn’t been the same since he returned from the World Baseball Classic, and he’s struggled mightily at the plate more often than not.
As pointed out by Yankees podcast account Talkin’ Yanks on X, Judge is posting one of the lowest OPS numbers of his career.
Yankees need Aaron Judge to step up at the plate
“Aaron Judge’s .738 OPS is his worst through the first 13 games of a season since 2016, when he made his MLB debut,” the post read.
Through 56 plate appearances and 49 at-bats, Judge has recorded 11 hits, 10 runs scored, three home runs, one double, seven RBI, and two stolen bases, per Baseball Reference. However, he’s also struck out 17 times, and his .224 batting average would be the worst of his career since his rookie season. His OBP (.309) and SLG (.429) are also the second-worst of his career.
Of course, this wouldn’t be the first time that Judge has gotten off to a slow start, and it should be just a matter of time before the perennial AL MVP candidate figures it out.
That said, the clock is ticking on him, and with a long history of shortcomings in big moments and the playoffs, fans might not be as patient with him as they were in previous years.