Yankees takeaways: Can Aaron Judge keep up ‘incredible' pace? Clubhouse vibes high

New York Times

24-04-2025

CLEVELAND — The most interesting perspective on the best hitter in baseball came from a pitcher. Carlos Rodón still hadn't changed out of his uniform as the New York Yankees' victory playlist blared around him. They had just beaten the Cleveland Guardians 5-1 on Wednesday, and Rodón had his best start of the year, giving up one unearned run over seven innings. Yet when the topic switched to Aaron Judge, Rodón went historical.
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'Right now, he's like Tony Gwynn,' Rodón said. 'Next week, he'll probably be like Hank Aaron.'
All year, the Yankees will be ecstatic if Aaron Judge is simply Aaron Judge, especially with the pace he's on now.
Judge went 2-for-4 with a triple and a walk to boost his batting average to an MLB-best .415 — 28 percentage points higher than his second-place teammate, Paul Goldschmidt (.383), and 59 percentage points higher than the closest non-Yankees hitter. St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Brendan Donovan was hitting .356.
Judge also leads the game in on-base percentage (.513), slugging percentage (.734) and OPS (1.247). And he's tied with the New York Mets' Pete Alonso with 26 RBIs. Going into Wednesday, Judge's 254 wRC+ was 34 percentage points higher than the next-highest hitter. The statistic measures runs created and adjusts to the league average (100).
He was also tied for the third-most homers in baseball, with seven.
'He never ceases to amaze me with what he does up there,' manager Aaron Boone said.
Judge started his afternoon with an RBI triple off the tall part of the wall in center field that, according to Statcast, would have been a home run in 28 of 30 ballparks. In his next at-bat, he singled to the left side for his sixth hit in six appearances at the plate. Then he drew a five-pitch walk. In his final two at-bats, he grounded into a double play and struck out.
Judge slams an RBI Triple!!!
He now leads the league in RBIs' this season with 26 pic.twitter.com/DeHGf9abFA
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) April 23, 2025
His 21-game on-base streak is tied for the fifth longest in his career. Over that span, he has hit .148 with a 1.136 OPS.
'It's fun to watch,' Goldschmidt said. 'I've seen it from afar for a few years now. It's incredible. He's a great hitter, very smart.'
Judge has been the main engine propelling the Yankees offense. Four of the Yankees' everyday players will go into Thursday with batting averages below .200: Cody Bellinger (.177), Jazz Chisholm Jr. (.165), Anthony Volpe (.198) and Austin Wells (.181).
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The Yankees will need Judge to keep this up the best he can. The good news? Judge doesn't historically cool off at any point of the season. His career monthly OPS marks after April:
May: 1.130
June: 1.016
July: .985
August: .980
September/October: 1.020
It's also been a marked turnaround for Judge in one aspect. Last April was one of the worst months of his illustrious career. He went into May hitting just .207. He doesn't know why he has hit better this April but said one of his goals is not to repeat last year's brief poor performance.
'Hitting them where they're not,' he said. 'Making contact. It's baseball. You're going to have that. You guys are going to be talking to me in June, where we have a tough month, and I'm going to tell you the same thing. It's just about trying to keep everything simple, not trying to do too much. I really don't have an answer for you right now. I just wanted to come in this year and have a better April than I did last year. So, just trying to keep that going.'
It might be dicey to bet against that happening.
'I'm just surprised when he gets out,' Rodón said. 'How about that?'
The Yankees' player of the game championship trophy was sticking out of Goldschmidt's travel bag.
Players milled back and forth from the showers and dining room, hurrying to catch the bus to their private plane. They were heading into an off day at home after playing 13 games in 13 days.
The music was upbeat but a mix of new and old: 'Give Me the Night' by George Benson, 'Gold Digger' by Kanye West, 'In Da Club' by 50 Cent.
The Yankees avoided a three-game sweep in Cleveland. They finished their seven-game trip 4-3 and are 15-10 and sitting atop the American League East.
Boone was happy with his team's performance through nearly a month of baseball.
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'Pretty good,' he said. 'I feel like there's still so much room for us to get better, though. There's still a few guys that we want to get on track, which is the nature of — especially early in the season. … You're going to have a few guys hot and a few guys scuffling. That's the nature of it. Want to get a few guys going. I feel like we have a chance to be a really good club here. We got out of the gates OK.'
'We do a lot of things well,' Goldschmidt said. 'Probably exactly where we were in spring training. We had a lot of confidence, but we know there's a long way to go.'
Heading home with a win ✅#RepBX pic.twitter.com/QIT56Gywyf
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 23, 2025
Rodón has been building to get to this point. Through his first four starts, he had a 5.48 ERA. But after Wednesday's win, he has given up just one unearned run over his last 13 innings.
He also struck out eight, walked two and gave up four hits, including a double, in Wednesday's game. He got whiffs on four of the five kinds of pitches he threw, but was particularly satisfied with his changeup.
'Kind of opened up the slider late,' he said. 'Threw some decent sinkers for some contact, and like I said, defensively, the boys picked me up. They helped me get through seven (innings). … It builds confidence. I felt like I was right there. I just want to keep going. Just keep winning games and going as deep as I can.'
Judge called Rodón 'incredible.'
'He did a fantastic job this afternoon, just attacking the zone, using all his pitches and keeping them off-balance,' he said.
The Dón in 8K.
Presented by @Delta pic.twitter.com/KQFCC2Qn9l
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 23, 2025