TAMPA — Aaron Judge decided a historic season and AL MVP were not enough. For years, he had been thinking about a two-strike approach to try to reduce strikeouts and expand effectiveness in certain situations.
But when he was most comfortable with it in 2019, his season was disrupted by a late-April oblique injury that cost him two months. Then the past three years, due to either COVID or labor strife, spring training was shortened and/or unsettled, leaving a change in approach “on the back-burner,” in his words.
With the promise of a standard spring training, Judge decided this was the right time; even though he hit a Yankee-record 62 homers last year and nearly won the Triple Crown. As Aaron Boone said, “He’s one of those guys who is obsessed with getting better. He finds out who is the best at something because he wants to be the best.”
So, after watching Paul Goldschmidt across the field in a series in St. Louis last year, he met in Florida with the NL MVP during the offseason to discuss the first baseman’s two-strike mindset. Judge studied video of how Juan Soto and Bryce Harper alter their foot placement to emphasize contact with two strikes.
“I told [Goldschmidt], ‘I saw you up close and I watched your videos, talk to me about your approach,’ ” Judge said. “He has a smaller, little stride [with two strikes] and kind of waits there. That’s something I want to mix in. So I asked, ‘How do you do that? What’s your thought process in this situation or that?’ ”
Judge explained this will be situation dependent: “The game is going to talk to me — what is more important here: me driving in this run or me trying to swing for the fences?”
For Judge does not want to sacrifice every two-strike swing. After all, he hit a MLB-high 21 two-strike homers. Milwaukee’s Rowdy Tellez had 17, no one else more than 14. Still, Judge wants to be situational. He mentioned, for example, leading off a game to try to ignite a rally or with a runner on third and less than two out. He drove in 16 of 32 last year in that situation, basically the MLB average.
“How can I get the barrel on the baseball 10 percent or 15 percent more?” Judge said. Hitting coach Dillon Lawson said Judge will spread out more with his legs and not lift his front foot and he “is in such a good place with his pre-two-strike swing where he can add something without taking away from other things. … With regards to shortening, it’s just a tool he wants in his back pocket to use when necessary.”
Judge had 396 plate appearances reach two strikes last year (tied for third in the majors) and hit .194 (72nd among 188 players with at least 200 two-strike plate appearances). His on-base percentage was .301 (26th) and his slugging .399 (sixth). His .700 OPS was fourth.
His two-strike numbers in the postseason, though, have been dreadful. Judge said he is not reacting to the statistics, but rather to the general idea that everything he does is designed to make him better in October to try to help the Yankees win a championship.
In the postseason last year, Judge was 1-for-23 with one walk and 15 strikeouts after the count reached two strikes. The hit was an infield single. He had an infield single in his only at-bat with two strikes in a 2021 wild-card loss to the Red Sox. Judge was 0-for-16 with a walk with two strikes during the 2020 playoffs.
Judge has not produced a two-strike hit that didn’t strike an infielder’s glove in his last 59 postseason plate appearances, dating to 2019 ALDS Game 2 against the Twins. He has two postseason homers in 120 two-strike plate appearances — none since 2018 ALDS Game 2 against Boston’s David Price. In all, he has hit .120 with two strikes in the postseason with 66 whiffs.
The Yanks, in general, have failed offensively in the playoffs with an all-or-nothing approach against the best pitching — and Judge has been central to the failure. He said “100 percent” when asked if the change in approach is designed to generally capitalize on key, run-scoring situations in the postseason.
“That plays into it,” Judge said. “That is ultimately why we do all the work in spring training to be ready for the postseason and win games in the postseason. So that is what I am going to use spring training for: to hopefully master this [shorter stride in various two-strike situations] and then use the season to pick and choose moments where I need to bust this out — drive a guy in, move a guy over, get myself on base. All the regular season is, is practice for the real scene.”