New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge resumed his post in the outfield on Friday night after a lengthy absence where he served as the DH due to a right shoulder injury. Judge faced questions about his throwing arm from Yankees reporters after Friday’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays, insisting that he wouldn’t be in the field if his arm wasn’t up to snuff.
The questions arose after Judge made a questionable decision not to make a direct throw to home plate in the first inning of the game. On a shallow base hit to right field, Judge had what should have been a tailor made opportunity to throw out a Blue Jay runner who was just rounding third as he picked up the ball, but he instead opted to hit his cutoff man and abort the play at the plate.
When a reporter bluntly asked why Judge didn’t make the throw home, he responded “my first thought was to get it into Jazz [Chisolm]… my first thought was to maybe make the play and the ball just kind of died before it got to me so I thought [I’d] just try to get it in as soon as I can and see what happens.”
Judge’s normal throwing power would have given him a very good chance to get the runner out at the plate, even with the ball landing softly in the outfield. He insisted, however, that he wouldn’t be in the field if he didn’t think he could make that play, though that is a play that is so often made by the towering right fielder.
Judge or Stanton in Right Field
In Judge’s absence from the field, Giancarlo Stanton took the majority of games in right field, a move that cost the Yankees on a number of occasions as the 35-year-old doesn’t move well, to put it kindly.
With the two options weighed out, even if Judge’s arm isn’t at 100 percent, his range still gives the Yankees far more effectiveness at the position. Stanton’s arm is probably the only thing that he has an advantage over Judge in, at least while Judge is at less than full strength. Otherwise, Stanton was effectively a liability every time a ball was hit to him. At the very least, Judge will be able to make fly ball outs that weren’t possible for Stanton to even attempt to make.
If Judge’s arm isn’t back to full strength before the playoffs, it could end up being a serious liability in crunch time. The problem is that both Stanton and Judge need to be in the lineup every night because of their elite bats, so there’s no real course of action for manager Aaron Boone to take in terms of putting a platoon outfielder in right.
Must Wins Against Toronto if Yankees Want to Remain in AL East Contention
After Friday’s loss, the Yankees sit four games back of Toronto for the AL East lead. If Toronto sweeps New York, it will put the Bronx Bombers six games out with less than three weeks remaining in the regular season. The Yankees need, at a bare minimum, to win one of two on Saturday and Sunday if they want to have any chance of overthrowing Toronto before season’s end.
If they do get swept they could find themselves back down to the second Wild Card slot if the Red Sox manage to take care of business in Arizona this weekend. They’ll still be a few games ahead of Seattle for the final Wild Card berth, but it will make the final few weeks a bit more contentious.
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