These Yankees Are Primed for Major Breakouts in 2017

Aaron Judge

Only Mariners slugger Nelson Cruz had a higher average exit velocity than Aaron Judge among all MLB batters this season. He even finished ahead of perennial Statcast darling  and fellow baseball giant Giancarlo Stanton.

One look at Judge and it is not hard to see why he hits the ball harder than almost anyone else. Few players in history can match his raw size and strength. Here’s a look at him absolutely hammering the hardest hit ball by any Yankees player all season for a 436 foot homer, his fourth and final shot of the season before being shut down with an oblique injury:

Of course the downside of his tremendous size is that big league pitchers were able to find holes in his long swing. Judge will have to work to tighten up his mechanics this winter and make more contact, just as he did following his first stint in the International League in 2015.

Even if Judge cuts down his 44.2% strikeout rate to a still-very-high 25-30% this year, it isn’t hard to imagine the 24-year-old knocking 30 home runs, putting up a solid OBP, and playing average defense in right. That’s probably a 3-4 win player with the potential for even more growth down the road.

As awesome as Gary Sanchez was this year, I’m going to make the controversial prediction that in three years time, Judge is the Baby Bomber who is the bigger star for New York. He has further to go to get there, but the tools are just incredible.