Despite Postseason Heroics, Aaron Judge Still Working Out the Kinks at the Plate

Look, we’re not going to sit here and, er, judge Aaron Judge—who took home the single-season rookie home run record and the Home Run Derby crown—but his postseason numbers so far speak for themselves.

For the entire postseason—which includes a wild-card game, five American League Division Series games, and four American League Championship Series games—the rookie phenom is just 7-for-37, batting a paltry .189, with just a trio of home runs. He’s also struck out 22 times, which for the guy who has the single-season strikeout record, is par for the course.

Given that Judge has seemingly only connected with mistake pitches, The New York Times addresses the elephant in the room: “Can Judge hit a good pitcher on that pitcher’s good day?” The young slugger has had no trouble in the batting cages before games, but it’s ultimately what happens during game-play that counts. Part of his in-game issues have to do with mechanics, says Yankee great Reggie Jackson, but the key, he feels, is lack of experience: “Players like Judge and Gary Sanchez, they don’t even have a thousand at-bats under their belt. …When I got to this stage, I’d already had a lot more. I was ready.”

When Mr. October appeared in his first ALCS in 1971, he’d had over 2,000 at-bats.