Aaron Judge's 'normal day' could mean much more for Yankees - New York Post

One hundred and five, 103, 92, free pass.

No, those are not your child’s chemistry test scores, nor are they Justin Bieber’s clocked speeds on the 405. They represent Aaron Judge’s exit velocities in his first three at-bats Friday night at Yankee Stadium, followed by a four-pitch walk in his final plate appearance.

They represent progress in the prodigal Yankee’s climb back to who he can be.

They enabled Judge’s team to win an exciting squeaker, 3-2 over the Indians, a contest replete with fine pitching and defense that cleansed the stench of that 19-5 beatdown suffered at Cleveland’s hands on Thursday night. And they pushed away the notion of a more drastic solution to Judge’s recent offensive struggles:

When in doubt, sit him out.

Judge, who averages about 97 miles per hour on his swings, singled to left field, lined out to right field and doubled to right with his three fair balls, and he scored on base hits by Gary Sanchez in the first inning and Gio Urshela in the fifth. The exit velocities, particularly in his first two at-bats, spoke to the quality of the swings.

“Just like a normal day,” Judge said, smiling.

A normal Judge day, for sure. Judge, however, hasn’t been his normal prodigious self for a while now. Which is why this meant more.

Asked how encouraged he was by Judge’s night, Aaron Boone said: “Very. For him to get some results, smokes a ball to left, smokes two balls to right, one that [Indians right fielder Yasiel] Puig ends up catching and then working a really good walk off of [reliever Adam Cimber], which is a tough at-bat for right-handed hitters …”

While the Yankees’ manager took the conversation in a different direction after that, he couldn’t hide his enthusiasm for Judge, who has slashed a very modest .212/.341/.336 with three home runs 113 at-bats over his past 30 games. That’s strikingly similar to his 30-game funk from July 25-Aug. 27 in 2017: .187/.346/.364 with five homers in 107 at-bats.

That summer, you might recall, Judge was battling a left-shoulder injury he incurred while winning the Home Run Derby. He kept saying he was fine and we kept seeing the opposite. Then, Joe Girardi sat him out for two full games for most of a third.

Said Girardi of Judge on Aug. 28, 2017: “I just thought that he’s been missing some pitches that he usually was hitting in the first half, and sometimes just a couple days away can refresh a guy and get him back on track. It’s not what you really want to do. We’ve tried a lot of different other things, and so we’re going to try this.”

Judge didn’t explode upon his return. Yet an abundance of zero-hit days turned into a steady stream of one-hit days, and then even better, and over those final 30 games of the regular season (hence the standard for the other cited time frames), he had a slash line of .305/.465/.853 with 15 homers in 96 at-bats.

This time, Judge is returning from oblique injury that typically lingers; only the man himself knows the severity of the discomfort.

“He doesn’t look like he’s hurt,” opined a scout from another team, on the condition of anonymity, who has seen Judge play recently. “He looks rusty. He definitely looked a little behind pitches.”

Aaron Judge celebrates the Yankees win.Getty Images

As the scout noted, big ballplayers, be they position players or hitters, can fall out of whack easier because of all the moving parts involved.

It’s Judge’s nature to act exactly the same, no matter whether he’s hot or cold.

“Even though he’s going through a tough spot,” teammate Austin Romine said, “he’s doing all his work and guys respect the hell out of how hard he’s working to get back. It’s impressive.”

Judge will impress folks even more if Friday proves to be the first of many steps forward. If it doesn’t? Especially given the Yankees’ comfortable American League East lead of 10 ½ games over the Rays, a short respite, an attempt at deja vu from two years ago, would be worth a shot.

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