Quietly, Aaron Judge, the big guy for the Yankees, once again plays like a star at the time of year when star Yankees are expected to do just that. Of course, his Yankee teams haven’t won it all yet. He’s not yet had the great stage of the World Series at Yankee Stadium. The big guy has still been something to see, and not just with home runs. But then, he’s always the one to come to see.
Through Game 2 of the American League Division Series against the Twins on Saturday night, Judge is already batting .500 in the postseason. He has played 20 postseason games in his young career, and has recorded 20 hits, scored 18 runs, hit seven homers, knocked in 15 runs and walked 16 times. Judge has an OPS of 1.021, a .616 slugging percentage, a .404 on-base percentage, a batting average of .274.
By the way, these numbers include a disastrous division series against the Indians in 2017, even though the Yankees came back from 0-2 down to win that one in five games. Judge got just one hit and struck out 16 times over 20 at-bats in those five games. But it tells you plenty about "All Rise" Judge that he rose right back up after that against the Astros in the American League Championship Series.
Since that Indians series, Judge has hit .347 in 14 postseason games, hit six home runs, knocked in 11, scored 14 runs, had 17 hits. Against the Red Sox in the Yankees’ 2018 division series, he hit two homers in four games, had six hits and batted .375. Judge continues to show Yankees fans, his teammates and the world that is way more than home runs. This is the kid the Yankees got with a compensation pick when they offered Nick Swisher arbitration and he declined and signed with the Indians.
“In all ways,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said from Minneapolis on Sunday, the off-day before Game 3, “that pick is the gift that keeps on giving.”
You see the numbers that Judge has put into the books over his first 20 postseason games. I called Jimmy Wright at the Elias Sports Bureau Sunday (they know everything) and asked for a comparison between Derek Jeter’s first 20 postseason games and Judge’s. This is what he came up with: Twenty-nine hits in the 20 games, 18 runs, three homers, five RBI, on-base percentage of .411, slugging percentage of .512, OPS of .923.
Obviously, Jeter and Judge are different hitters. But from the start, Jeter showed up at this time of year. So, too, has Judge. And it isn’t just the numbers that are similar. Judge carries himself the way Jeter did. He has accepted all of the responsibilities of being the face of the team the way Jeter once did, embraced all of the old-Yankee values, the same as Jeter did in his team’s biggest games from the start.
Jeter’s team won it all when he was a rookie. When Judge was a rookie, his Yankees team led the Astros 3-2 in the 2017 ALCS before that series went back to Houston and Judge stopped hitting, the way all of the Yankees did. But when you see the job Cashman has done over the past few years building something to last the way Jeter’s Yankees were built to last, it is impossible to believe Judge may not have to wait long to make his first trip to the Canyon of Heroes. Maybe as early as the end of this month, even if the Astros look to be a better team now than they were two years ago.
“All of our players are hungry,” Cashman said. “But no one is hungrier for this than Aaron is.”
Then Cashman was talking about all of No. 99’s strength as a player.
“Because of his size, I’m not sure people appreciate just how much amazing plate discipline he has,” he said. “He sees how carefully they work him, how afraid they are to pitch to him sometimes. But he simply won’t give in.”
I told Cashman something Buck Showalter, who’s doing studio work for the YES Network right now, told me about how fundamentally sound Judge is, both offensively and defensively.
“Aaron’s not just a good defensive player,” Cashman said. “He’s a great defensive player.”
He is a great baseball player, period. He can hit balls out of sight and take easy hits to the opposite field when they put on a shift against him. He can run and throw and go over the wall to take back home runs. He just missed taking one back out of the seats from Miguel Sanó on Friday night. You were actually surprised when he didn’t.
When Judge is healthy, something he hasn’t always been the past two seasons -- he hit 54 home runs across 2018 and ‘19 after hitting 52 in ‘17 -- he isn’t just the Yankees star. He is one of the biggest stars in his game. Guys like that usually show up in October. They’re supposed to show up. And rise up. "All Rise" Judge does.