Yankees Shutting Down Judge Would Be Best for Him

Yankees No. 4 prospect Aaron Judge, left Tuesday night’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers after straining his right oblique.

The Yankees rookie right fielder is currently scheduled to undergo an MRI on Wednesday morning to determine the severity of his injured oblique.

Judge appeared to injure himself in the bottom of the 4th inning after fouling a ball back to the screen. He hobbled a bit out of the box but soon waived off Joe Girardi and the Yankees’ team trainer as they approached him at home plate.

Judge eventually reaching first base on a walk to load the bases, before being forced out at second on a fielders choice. He was replaced in the top of the 5th inning by Jacoby Ellsbury.

If the results of the pending MRI show any hint of irritation, the Yankees would be wise to shut down the 24-year-old giant for the final 18 games of this season.

While the recent playoff push experience is truly invaluable to the Baby Bombers, Judge’s massive offensive struggles are something that could screw up his psyche in a way that could be detrimental to him ever reaching the heights of stardom most have already projected.

Yes, his power is real; as exemplified during his fourth home run on Monday night–which was an absolute moon shot. But the advanced rate and ferocity in which he strikes out, as he did for the 42nd time in just 84 bats on Tuesday, needs to rectify forthwith.

It’s easy to say, ‘well he’s a power hitter, so he’s going to strike out a lot.’ Is that really what you want out of a young player, still learning the game at the big league level? To bat around .215, hit 40 home runs, and strike out 200 times?

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Guys like that eventually become part-time players, pinch hitters, or are phased out of the game way before their prime baseball playing years. Steve Balboni, anyone?

Judge is far too talented to let this happen to him. His defensive metrics alone rate him to be a plus outfielder with good speed and a solid throwing arm.

In the offseason, the Yankees need to employ someone to work with him on all phases of offense, and no, that guy is not current Yankees hitting coach Jeff Pentland.

They need someone who can harness Judge’s raw power, and translate it into a better approach at the plate. The ability to wait back on offspeed pitches–breaking balls; to drive these pitches to the opposite field with regularity.

I know Paul O’Neill was a career .288 lefthanded hitter, but the way he approached each at-bat; hit ferocious line drives where they were pitched with relentless precision. That’s the type of influence that will enable Judge’s average to go skyward, and in turn, make those home runs totals fly north as well.

It was still a wise decision for the Yankees to give Judge the everyday starting right field job after his promotion on Aug. 13, but his numbers don’t translate into keeping that job on a team in the hunt for a playoff spot.

Judge got a good amount of experience, now knows what he needs to work on in the offseason, and allowed the Yankees to better plan for their 2017 roster.

Shutting him down with a little over two weeks remaining allows Judge to save a bit of face before his batting average dips any further below its current standing of .179, and then is potentially benched.

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He should build off those four gigantic home runs and 10 RBI to better ready himself for what’s to come over the course of 162 games.

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