Manager Aaron Boone said that if Aaron Judge continues hitting at his current rate, opposing teams may get the “Barry Bonds treatment” by walking him rather than watch him continue hitting.
“Maybe there will be a period of time where that happens,” Boone said Wednesday before the Reds’ 3-2 loss in the Bronx.
Maybe the better question is, why hasn’t it started yet, especially with the Yankees’ lineup in shambles outside of Judge and Juan Soto?
But on Wednesday, Judge hit into an inning-ending double play against right-hander Fernando Cruz in the bottom of the seventh with one out and a runner on third base and the score tied or even better.
The grounder to third base traveled at 106 mph, but it still ended the Yankees’ best chance to overturn the lead.
It was an unusually poor night at the plate for Judge, but the team may be more cautious in its pitching, something Boone noted the team did frequently in the second half of the historic 2022 season when parts of its lineup were struggling.
In his first 121 games of the season, Judge was intentionally walked eight times. In his final 36 games, he was intentionally walked 11 times.
Such an opportunity appeared to present itself on Tuesday when Judge came to bat with the Yankees trailing by two runs with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Left-hander Sam Mohr will face Judge with left-hander Alex Verdugo struggling.
Mohr threw a pitch to Judge, who hit it into the left field stands for his 32nd home run of the season.
Mohr reflected on his approach at the plate on Wednesday. Though he had never pitched to Judge, the two were Cape Cod League teammates on the Brewster Whitecaps in 2013, both in their junior seasons of college.
“Whether or not we intentionally walk is something that we usually leave up to the bench,” Mohr said, “and then we’ll have some pitching decisions centered around him.” [Tuesday] The best thing to do was to make it 1-0 as quickly as possible, which we did and the ball went over the fence.”
Mohr said he hopes to “steal the first one and then expand.” [the zone] There was a lot from there.”
Instead, Judge kept the game at one point.
However, the Yankees were unable to get another runner on base in the remaining time of the game and ended up losing.
Mohr said the final result of the game made the home run easier to accept and that he understood the psychology of a team walking Judge in a situation like this.
“I don’t get hit with home runs that often, although I did get hit with one there, so my mentality is always aggressive,” Mohr said. “In that moment, I could have taken a step back and thrown past him, which is very foreign to me, but Aaron is the best hitter in the world right now, so it’s not a bad idea.”
Mohr has watched Judge hit home runs for more than a decade, but still remembers how Judge showed up at Brewster and made an immediate impression.
“He struck out his first time at bat and hit a moonshot his second time,” Mohr said. “You can see what kind of hitter he’s going to be.”
