Yankees' Aaron Judge: Likely moving back to right field
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Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Monday that it "makes sense" for Judge to move back to right field next season, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports.
Judge shifted to center field in 2024 to accommodate Juan Soto, but with Soto headed to the Mets, Judge can now man his more familiar right field position. Manager Aaron Boone mentioned Jasson Dominguez as the leading candidate to start in center field in 2025, although Dominguez could play left field if the Yankees acquire a center fielder.
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Yankees' Aaron Judge: Unanimously wins second AL MVP
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Judge was named the 2024 American League Most Valuable Player on Thursday.
It's hardly surprising to see Judge take home his second MVP trophy after slashing .322/.458/.701 with 144 RBI in the regular season -- all of which represent career-best marks for the 32-year-old slugger. He also added 58 home runs on the year, which falls just four short of the Yankees' single-season record he set in 2022. After receiving all 30 first-place votes, Judge is now the first Yankee to win MVP unanimously since Mickey Mantle did so in 1956.
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Yankees' Aaron Judge: Homers in Game 5 loss
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Judge went 2-for-3 with a two-run homer and two walks in Wednesday's loss to the Dodgers.
Judge sent Yankee Stadium into a frenzy in the bottom of the first inning when he followed a one-out Juan Soto walk with a two-run homer to the opposite field. He also added a double and a pair of free passes. Judge's heroics were ultimately too little, too late as the Yankees blew a 5-0 lead, partly because of a key Judge misplay in the outfield amid a terrible defensive inning for the Yankees, and the Dodgers went on to capture the World Series title. He clubbed three home runs and drove in nine in 14 games this postseason, but Judge also batted just .184 with a 31.3 percent strikeout rate.
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Yankees' Aaron Judge: Scratched Sunday
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Judge was scratched from Sunday's lineup against the Pirates.
Given that Juan Soto and Jazz Chisholm are also off, it sounds like the Yankees just opted to rest their star slugger at the last minute. The game was delayed due to inclement weather, so it makes sense to not have Judge out there in poor conditions. Judge went 0-for-5 with five strikeouts Saturday.
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Yankees' Aaron Judge: Out of post-clinch lineup
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Judge is not in the lineup for Friday's game versus the Pirates.
The Yankees are rolling out several backups in Friday's series opener, one day after clinching the American League East. Trent Grisham will handle center field and bat seventh.
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Yankees' Aaron Judge: Homer streak up to five games
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Judge went 1-for-2 with a two-run home run, two walks and an additional run scored in Thursday's 10-1 win over the Orioles.
Judge homered for the fifth game in a row, giving him 58 long balls on the year. He's driven in eight runs during his sudden power surge, which has him within striking distance of his second 60-homer season if he can keep it going during this weekend's three-game series versus the Pirates. Judge has added a .325/.461/.708 slash line with 144 RBI, 122 runs scored, 36 doubles and 10 stolen bases over 157 contests in an MVP-caliber campaign.
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Yankees' Aaron Judge: Clubs 56th homer
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Judge went 1-for-3 with a solo home run and a walk in Tuesday's 5-3 loss to Baltimore.
The 2022 MVP took starter Dean Kremer deep in the fourth inning, launching a 407-foot solo shot to center field to mark the third consecutive game he's gone yard. Judge has picked up the homer pace over the past 10 games, as he's hitting .387 (12-for-31) with five long balls, three doubles, nine runs scored and 13 RBI over that span. In what is bound to be another hardware-filled season for the 32-year-old, he is now slashing .323/.459/.699 with 56 homers, 119 runs scored, 139 RBI and 10 steals in 690 plate appearances.
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Yankees' Aaron Judge: Reaches 55-homer mark
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Judge went 2-for-3 with a solo home run, a double, two walks and two total runs scored in Sunday's 7-4 win over the Athletics.
Judge is up to 55 homers this season, with four of them coming over his last nine games. In that span, he's added 12 RBI, three doubles and two stolen bases while going 11-for-28 (.393). The star outfielder is up to a .323/.458/.695 slash line with 138 RBI, 118 runs scored, 10 stolen bases and 36 doubles over 154 games in one of the best years of his career. A potential return to the 60-homer mark would be tough to pull off with just six games left.
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Yankees' Aaron Judge: Blasts 54th homer
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Judge went 2-for-3 with a solo home run, an additional run and a walk in a 10-0 win against the Athletics on Saturday.
Judge's long ball was a 425-foot solo shot to center field in the seventh inning. It was his 54th home run of the season, two ahead of Shohei Ohtani for the major-league lead. Judge also leads the majors with 137 RBI and 127 walks while slashing .321/.456/.688, making him the frontrunner for AL MVP honors.
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Yankees' Aaron Judge: Notches 10th steal
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Judge went 1-for-3 with a walk, a run and a stolen base in Thursday's loss to Seattle.
Judge had a relatively quiet game by his standards, but he did reach a personal milestone with his 10th theft of the campaign. It's just the second time in nine big-league seasons that the slugger has reached that mark. Judge's career high in stolen bases in a campaign is 16, which he established in 2022 during the season in which he also set an American League record with 62 home runs.
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Yankees' Aaron Judge: Four RBI Tuesday
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Judge went 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, four RBI and a run scored in Tuesday's win over the Mariners.
Judge plated all four of his runs in the first two innings with a double in the first and a single in the second to give him his second four-RBI effort in his last four games and fifth such game of the year. Judge is now up to 136 RBI for the season, which is 26 more than anyone else in the league (Shohei Ohtani follows him with 110). Judge seems destined for another MVP season with a slash line of .323/.456/.692 with 53 homers, 113 runs, nine steals and a 123:160 BB:K in 664 plate appearances. Judges 123 walks currently lead baseball as well, as he's got two more than teammate Juan Soto.
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Yankees' Aaron Judge: Launches 53rd homer
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Judge went 1-for-2 with a two-run home run, two walks and a stolen base Sunday against the Red Sox.
After going 16 games without a homer, Judge has now hit two over the past three games to reach 53 on the season. Judge also added his ninth stolen base, marking the second time this year he's gone yard and swiped a bag in the same game. While he's fallen off the pace to reach 60 home runs, all it will take is one of his patented hot streaks to challenge that threshold for the second time in his career. Through 148 games, Judge is slashing .321/.453/.687 with 53 homers, 132 RBI, 112 runs, nine steals and 122 walks across 659 plate appearances.
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Yankees' Aaron Judge: Snaps drought with grand slam
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Judge went 2-for-3 with a grand slam and a walk in Friday's win over the Yankees.
Judge was stuck in the longest power slump of his career, going 16 straight games since his last homer Aug. 25. He finally broke out of it with a go-ahead grand slam in the seventh inning. It was his 52nd home run of the year and 18th since the All-Star break. Despite the recent slump, Judge is slashing .321/.455/.688 with 130 RBI and 86 extra-base hits through 146 games.
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Yankees' Aaron Judge: In midst of power drought
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Judge went 0-for-3 with a walk, a run and a stolen base in Saturday's 2-0 win against the Cubs.
That's 11 straight contests without a long ball for Judge, who slugged seven homers in six games prior to the sudden power outage. The 11-game homerless stretch is the longest of the campaign for the star outfielder and has stalled his pursuit of a second career 60-homer season, though his ability to get hot and tally long balls in bunches puts the accomplishment still within reach. Judge has struggled as a whole during the power drought, slashing .175/.327/.250 with a 34.7 percent strikeout rate, though he does have three doubles, three RBI and two stolen bases.
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Yankees' Aaron Judge: Crosses 50-homer mark
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Judge went 2-for-4 with a pair of home runs, three RBI and a walk in Sunday's 10-3 win over the Rockies.
Judge's recent power binge is impressive by even his standards -- he's gone deep 10 times over his last 13 contests. In that span, he's batting .426 (20-for-47) with 17 RBI and 13 runs scored. With Sunday's impressive effort, Judge is up to 51 homers this year, crossing the half-century mark for the third time in his career. He's added a magnificent .333/.465/.736 slash line, an MLB-best 122 RBI, 104 runs scored, 30 doubles and six stolen bases over 129 contests.
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Yankees' Aaron Judge: Launches 49th homer
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Judge went 1-for-4 with a solo home run Friday in a 3-0 win against Colorado.
Judge went deep off Kyle Freeland in the sixth inning to extend his streak of games with at least one long ball to four. The slugger is now one homer shy of reaching 50 for the third time in his career -- he'll be the fifth player in MLB history to accomplish that feat, joining Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Alex Rodriguez. Judge is on pace for 62 home runs this season, which would tie the AL record he established in 2022.
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Yankees' Aaron Judge: Keeps up torrid pace
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Judge went 1-for-3 with a solo home run, an additional run and a walk Thursday in a 6-0 win against the Guardians.
Judge kicked off the scoring for New York with a solo blast in the fourth frame. He's gone deep four times in his past three contests and seven times over his past 10 games to push his total to 48 home runs on the season. As a testament to the slugger's ferocity at the plate, Cleveland walked him with one out and the runners on the corners in the fifth inning, electing to load the bases rather than give him a chance to hit despite being down 1-0 at the time. That type of treatment could become even more common down the stretch as opponents look to cement playoff berths and postseason positioning. As it is, Judge ranks second in MLB with 104 walks -- including a league-leading 16 free passes -- on the season.
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Yankees' Aaron Judge: Goes yard twice in win
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Judge went 2-for-3 with two home runs and three RBI in Wednesday's 8-1 win over the Guardians.
The AL MVP candidate launched a two-run homer off Joey Cantillo in the third inning before adding a solo shot off Eli Morgan in the seventh. Judge is surging again, going yard six times in the last nine games while slashing an absurd .471/.561/1.118 with 12 RBI, and with 47 long balls through 125 games on the season, he's on pace to reach 60 homers for the second time in his career.
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Yankees' Aaron Judge: Hits 45th homer in loss
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Judge went 2-for-5 with a home run, a double, a walk and three RBI in Tuesday's 9-5 extra-innings loss to the Guardians.
Judge went back-to-back with Juan Soto off Matthew Boyd in the first inning and then added a two-run double in the 12th frame. The 32-year-old continues to crush the ball in August, hitting safely in nine of his past 10 games with six multi-hit efforts and four home runs. He extended his league lead in long balls over Shohei Ohtani to six and owns a .332 average, 114 RBI and 97 runs scored across 556 plate appearances.
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Yankees' Aaron Judge: Belts 44th homer
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Judge went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in a 3-0 win against Detroit on Friday.
Judge capped the scoring in the contest with a solo shot to center field in the eighth inning. The slugger has gone deep in consecutive contests and in three of his past five games, and he's slashing an absurd .556/.652/1.167 during the latter span. Judge's 2024 resume includes a league-leading 44 home runs , 111 RBI and 1.175 OPS. Among qualified MLB hitters, only Bobby Witt (.352) has a higher batting average than Judge's .333 mark.
