Is Aaron Judge Going to STINK This Year?

Meet Aaron Judge. A six-foot-seven inch, 280 pound giant. Judge was brought up to the BIGS for a short stint in August of 2016. The following year (2017), in his first full major league season, Judge hit .284 with 114 ribs and 52 ding-dongs. Monster numbers for a literal monster.

Many have touted him as the future face of the Yankees –some even mentioning him in the conversation as the future face of the MLB. —No pressure, Aaron— But can you  really blame the media/ the Yankees organization for hoisting him up as their new hero? As a die hard baseball fan, I can say watching a 6 foot 7 inch freak of nature up at bat quickly became appointment television. And with the Yankees off season acquisition of NL MVP, Mike Stanton, (that’s right I’m not falling for that Giancarlo bullshit) the heart of the Yankees order looks pretty fucking scary.

HOWEVER –as a sox fan– I am confident when I say, I ain’t worried at all. Judge is a god damn freak. An exciting freak? Sure. But his gangly body has and will continue to make him widely susceptible to strike outs — he was rung up 208 times in 2017 — and with pitchers getting a full year to figure him out I can only see things getting worse. In the second half of last season Judge hit .229 in sharp contrast to his red-hot, first half average of .329

Despite what Yankee fans think, adding Giancarlo Mike Stanton doesn’t make Judge Stanton part II. As we saw with Mookie Betts in the 2016 to the 2017 seasons, it’s no walk in the park to repeat personal best seasons. Stanton will protect Judge to an extent but that only goes so far in my opinion. The good news for the Yankees is they built themselves a little league stadium so when Judge gets fooled on a curve ball  and hits a weak pop-up to right field, his farm boy strength still gives him a shot at putting it in the bleachers.

My 2018 prediction for Judge – .205 BA – 35 home runs – the cover of a video game – and a Wily Mo Pena career trajectory

– Steak Jones (Steak_Jones)