From July 14th to August 14th, Judge had a .228 batting average, with 26 hits in 114 at-bats, three of those hits being home runs, while also striking out 42 times.
That Aaron Judge is gone.
The real Aaron Judge is back and the rest of the MLB should be afraid.
From August 15th to September 4th, Judge has a .315 batting average with 23 hits in 78 plate appearances and has a 1.071 on-base plus slugging percentage. He has been lighting it up, showing why no one should have been worried when he was in his slump.
Judge has been on fire over the last 18 games, and he really took off once the Yankees took their trip to the West Coast.
Aaron Judge hit .359 (14-39 AB) with six home runs during the Yankees’ nine-game west coast trip. After not hitting a home run to left field all season, three of his last six home runs have been pulled.
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) August 30, 2019
For the entire season up until August 15th, Judge’s batting average was .263, and his on-base plus slugging percentage was .842. Now, however, Judge’s surge has brought his batting average up to.275 and his on-base plus slugging is now .896, and these averages are nothing to laugh at.
Considering Judge was hurt for a significant portion of the season, and may have still been injured when he was activated off of the Injured List, these numbers are just fine.
Since he has been in the MLB, Judge has been part of an elite group of outfielders, and his injuries this season have not stopped him from being in that group.
Outfielders with 20+ HR & 4.0+ bWAR every season since 2017:
Mike Trout
Mookie Betts
Cody Bellinger
Aaron Judge— New York Yankees Stats (@nyyankeesstats) September 5, 2019
Trout, Betts, and Bellinger are three players anyone would want to be in the same group as, and Aaron Judge has been with them every year.
His teammates also recognize how well Judge has been playing lately, and Yankees’ catcher Gary Sanchez has all the confidence in the world for Judge, even when he was in his slump.
Aaron Judge has 20 homers. Here's what Gary Sanchez said about him recently:
"I wasn't worried at all. I know what kind of talent he has, I know what he can do on the field. Right now he's hot. 30 is not out of reach for him right now."
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) September 4, 2019
Although 20 home runs is not really that much when you think of Aaron Judge’s power, his most of those home runs have been hit at clutch times. According to Katie Sharp on Twitter, 12 of his 20 home runs, or 60 percent of them, have given the Yankees a lead. The MLB average for home runs to give the team a lead only 30.7 percent.
Aaron Judge has broken out of his slump, and the Yankees are a better team because of it.
Featured Image: Noah K. Murray - USA Today Sports
