New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge had a rough series against the Kansas City Royals in the previous round. Of course, expectations matter. Fans just assume he is going to hit one home run per game and drive in 10 runs in the Division Series. The fact, however, is that he struggled with a .620 OPS and just two hits in four games.
Aaron Judge has bounced back after a slow start to the postseason
A big guy like Judge, with bigger moving parts on his swing, often takes a bit longer to get into a groove after a significant layoff, like the one the Yankees had before taking the field against the Royals.
By the first game of the ALCS against the Cleveland Guardians, you could see he was having more competitive at-bats: he was doing a better job laying off balls and swinging at strikes, and he was making harder contact more consistently.
Finally, on Tuesday’s Game 2, Judge caught up to a Hunter Gaddis high fastball and sent it all the way to center field for a long, towering home run.
The Yankees star knows how to deal with crazy high expectations
Some Yankees fans booed Judge after his struggles, clearly expecting more from him. It’s nothing new for the Captain, though, who has shown the maturity to deal with these situations in the past:
“I’ve been booed here plenty of times. You can’t focus on that. You’ve just got to focus on what you can control. What I can control is what I do in the box and what I do on the field”, he said after hitting his first homer of the playoffs, per ESPN.
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Judge is very familiar with Yankees fans’ expectations, but with the mindset he has, he is trying to give himself some peace of mind and not take that off-the-field pressure to his at-bats. A relaxed, alert mind performs better and he knows it.
The Yankees are hoping Judge can keep up the good form and show that power of his at Progressive Field, the Guardians’ home, from Thursday to Friday and, if it’s necessary, on Saturday.
After the long home run, Judge’s OPS in October is up to .735, and that number is on the rise. There is a very good chance that, if the Yankees make it all the way to the World Series, he will be so good that we won’t even remember his early-postseason mini-slump.
