Aaron Judge wants to reach secret goals he 'missed' in 2022

New York Yankees All-Star Aaron Judge enjoyed an exceptional and historic 2022 season but seemingly wouldn't give himself an "A" grade for the year. 

"I missed a couple marks," Judge admitted to Jon Heyman of the New York Post about goals he had for himself last season. 

Judge set an American League single-season record of 62 home runs, earned AL Most Valuable Player honors, signed a nine-year contract reportedly worth $360 million to stay with the Yankees and was then named the 16th captain in club history all before January 2023. While the Bronx Bombers were unceremoniously swept by the Houston Astros in the ALCS, Heyman had asked Judge to speak about the personal objectives he "missed" last year. 

"I can’t tell you that," Judge responded. 

Slugger Anthony Rizzo, arguably Judge's closest friend among teammates, said even he can't get the 30-year-old to spill the beans.

In February, Randy Miller of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com noted that Judge acknowledged at that time that "contact rate is something I want to improve on" for 2023. Per ESPN stats, Judge's 175 regular-season strikeouts were the seventh-most in MLB last year. 

"I’ve talked to other big leaguers around the game that I admire their swing," Judge continued. "I was like, 'Hey, let’s go out to dinner. Let’s hit in the cage. Let me pick your brain a little bit about what you do in the box.'" 

For a piece published Tuesday, The Athletic revealed one of the players Judge spoke with was St. Louis Cardinals star and 2022 NL MVP Paul Goldschmidt. 

"Judge hopes to improve his contact rate on two strikes — even if it means sticking with a mechanical adjustment that he’s dabbled with for years," The Athletic pointed out. 

The piece added: 

"Though Judge still mashed when reaching two strikes — leading MLB with 21 home runs in two-strike counts — he saw room for improvement. According to Baseball Reference, Judge hit .194 last season when reaching two strikes, ranking 72nd out of 188 players who had at least 200 at-bats in those situations." 

Judge insisted to Heyman one thing matters more than any personal goals or numbers. 

"If we go out there and have a winning season and put ourselves in position in the playoffs I think we’ll be happy no matter what the stats are," the four-time All-Star selection explained.