Judge not concerned with slump
Aaron Judge isn’t going to call it a slump.
And he doesn’t think the mechanics of his swing have changed. Nor does he feel he is being pitched differently. Still, there is no denying that the Yankees’ rookie phenom isn’t mashing the ball like he did before the All-Star break. His diagnosis? “It’s just that part of the season. Everyone goes through it and you just have to keep grinding,” he said after Sunday’s 5-3 loss to the Rays at the Stadium. “You’re not going feel 100 percent or be on your ‘ A’ game 100 percent of the time, so you’ve got to grind through those at-bats and try to battle and get some hits and produce and help the team.”
Judge went 0-for-4 with a walk Sunday. He whiffed in the fifth with none out and two runners in scoring position. He popped out in the ninth when he represented the winning run with one out and two on base.
In the 16 games since the intermission, he is 9-for-57 (.158) with three homers, eight RBIs and 25 strikeouts.
Manager Joe Girardi said he is unconcerned with the stretch Judge is in and isn’t considering a change in his batting-order position to get a spark.
“Is it a guy you want up in that situation right there? Yeah,” Girardi said. “No matter how he is swinging, that’s the guy you want up in that situation because he can change it really quickly.”
Judge was asked if he sees any positive signs that forecast a return to his first-half form and smiled as he said, “I feel good — I am hitting [.302] in the big leagues with 33 homers. And every single time I step to the plate, it’s Opening Day. It doesn’t matter what you did in the past, it’s just about ‘ What can I do this at-bat?’ ”
Judge has drawn 12 walks over the 16-game stretch, but admits there have been times when his plate discipline has lapsed.
“The tough thing — the battle — is that when you’re not getting hits, you try to do a little bit too much and start swinging at pitches out of the zone,” he said. “That’s where you have to kind of step out and slow things down. ... It’s kind of frustrating at times, but you have to accept it and learn from it and move on.”