BRONX PHENOMS ARE BOMBING OUT IN PLAYOFF DEBUTS
Yankees’ Judge, Sanchez a shade of their regular-season selves, writes Rob Longley.
NEW YORK The great Reggie Jackson likely had no idea how far along the young New York Yankees sluggers were and how soon they would have a chance to be modern-day Mr. Octobers.
Certainly there were no predictions it would be this autumn.
But before a run-of-the-mill Grapefruit League game in Tampa, Fla., back in March, the Yanks’ special consultant wanted to be prepared for days like this.
Around the batting cage at George Steinbrenner Stadium, the original Mr. October engaged Blue Jays star Josh Donaldson about the fine art of hitting. Essentially he was looking for nuggets to help stars in the making such as Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and others destined to wear Yankee pinstripes.
“I wanted to have a hitting conversation with him because I wanted to learn some of the terms that the kids are using now,” Jackson said. “To get the terminology and the lingo right when we talk about it (hitting).”
Whatever language is being spoken now probably includes a tone of desperation as the Yankees looked to fight their way back into the ALCS against the Houston Astros Monday night in the Bronx. The Astros carried a 2-0 lead into Game 3.
Judge, the rookie phenom with 52 regular-season home runs, is 1-for-12 with seven strikeouts in his last three playoff games, while Sanchez is 0-for-11 with eight whiffs. Yes, they’ve had to face brilliant pitching, but by not producing offensively, the Bronx Bombers have wasted two excellent outings from their own starters against Houston in the ALCS.
The big picture of the storied franchise is nowhere near as bleak, however. Both Sanchez and Judge — plus several other bright prospects in the Yankees’ system — have advanced to the stage where the Bronx Bombers are setting up for a long and productive run as contenders.
For the most part, the Yankees have taken a hands-off approach to the struggles of Sanchez and Judge. The final four stage of Major League Baseball is no time for tinkering with the swing, after all.
“When you look at the youth and the talent of the youth that is here now, I think (the future) is extremely bright,” manager Joe Girardi said.
“I think the Yankees are set up for a really good run and there are a lot of really good things that have to go into that.”
As for the immediate development of Judge and Sanchez, Girardi is adamant there is little that can be done to force the issue.
Both seem to be taking too many bad swings at breaking balls especially, but the postseason is a different beast.
With Judge specifically, Girardi feels pitchers have found a solution by trying to get him out with balls low in the strike zone. Some of them a little too low, in fact.
“It’s part of what’s going to happen to him because he’s so tall,” Girardi said of the six-foot-seven Judge. “And he works on hitting a low pitch. And he’ll continue to get better as time goes on.
“I think there are some pitches that have been called on him during the series that haven’t necessarily been strikes. There’s a big difference between 1-1 and 2-0 or 2-1 in the count and the way it changes an at-bat. Hopefully he’ll start getting some that go his way and (the umps) start making some mistakes up.”
Girardi is wise enough to recognize his team is unlikely to advance to the World Series without some meaningful production from his two young stars. Unlike the notorious New York Post, which referred to the pair as “Baby Bummers” in Monday’s editions, their manager is keeping the faith.
“We’ve counted on them all year,” Girardi said. “We believe in them and I think they’re going to come out of it.”
We’ve counted on them all year. We believe in them and I think they’re going to come out of it.