New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge had an excellent season in 2020-21, he was mostly healthy, and he racked up a .287 batting average with 39 home runs and almost 100 runs batted in. He led the Yankees in many categories. But Judge is being cheated regularly by MLB umpires.
Imagine the plays and stats he could rack up if the umpires treated him fairly. Instead, Judge consistently get strikes called on him that are not strikes. Judge is not alone in being called out, but he is the poster boy for umpire mistreatment. Robot umpires have been tested. Is it time to implement them in the Major Leagues?
Through no fault of his own, Judge’s hulking body stands 6’7″ tall. Obviously, that helps him in reach, but it also hurts him when umpires continually call strikes below the zone on him. After five years in, the majors’ umpires just don’t get it; he’s tall, and you have to adjust the strike zone.
Somehow it seems that umpires, in general, hold the New York Yankees to different standards than other teams, although that can be argued. What can’t be argued is that they constantly call strikes on Aaron Judge that are balls. Computer replays have shown it over and over again. Statistics show that the average MLB player gets 47% called strikes, whereas Judge receives 65.7%.
The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler shared a mid-summer pitch plotting during the next-man-up season of 2019. The plotting showed the bad calls against Judge, but that has not gone away; it is as much today as ever. The New York Yankees can’t accept this nonsense as they pursue a race to the postseason in 2022.
Typically, Judge doesn’t lose his cool much and takes these bad calls in stride. All we New York Yankees fans ask is that Judge is treated fairly, and this is not happening and may not happen until the era of the robot umpire that is computer controlled and adjust for a hitter’s height.
Judge recently said that he would hit 50 home runs this next season. That total is certainly realistic if he doesn’t strike out as often. But aware of how he is treated, he will likely keep swinging at those low balls because he knows they will be called strikes anyway. So, plain and simple, Aaron Judge is at the disadvantage of protecting the egregiously low strike calls.
@CodfiyBaseball has put together a video showing the strike calls that Judge has had to ignore and suck it up as he is cheated time after time. Below that @FoolishBaily details why Judge would be better off with robot umpires.
Not too high, not inside, not outside, but definitely low.
Aaron Judge has suffered considerably more of these called strikes during the last few season than any other batter in MLB.
Yes. These were ALL called strikes.
What does he do if you have to throw it in the zone? pic.twitter.com/PL6gz4vXiT
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) August 23, 2021