Should the Yankees Be Concerned with Aaron Judge?

Overall, the numbers we've seen from Judge so far are a far cry to what he's been producing over the last two years, both of which earned him an MVP award. The general sentiment, though, both among the Yankees and baseball fans, is that the slugger will be fine and return to his world-beating form once everything starts clicking again.

"He's just going through it a little bit right now. Usually that means good things are coming on the other side," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after Thursday's game, a 2-0 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. "He’s a little in-between, probably. Fastballs got on him, and he was a little out in front of some other pitches.

“Usually anytime a hitter goes through it, it’s a little timing related,” Boone continued. “I think that’s all it is. So he’ll get through it, and somebody will pay the price real soon.”

It is certainly fair to assume that, especially when taking Judge's 2024 season into account. That year, the outfielder got off to a very slow start by hitting .197/.331/.393 through his first 33 games. Judge finished the year with a monstrous .322/.458/.701 slash line and 58 home runs. When everything is clicking, there is no better hitter in baseball.

However, the concern shouldn't be with Judge's individual performance, but rather the state of the offense when he's in one of these rare slumps. Even with Ben Rice continuing to be a force at the plate, the Yankees' lineup has scored only 41 runs in their slump. Of those 13 games, they've scored three runs or fewer in eight of them. Injuries to Giancarlo Stanton, Jasson Dominguez and Jose Caballero certainly hasn't helped the offense either.

In that regard, the Yankees should be a bit worried about Judge's slump because of just how much the lineup depends on him. But this works both ways: when Judge starts hitting, seemingly everyone else in New York's lineup starts hitting too. If anything, Judge's slump has been exacerbated by several factors, such as facing division rivals like the Baltimore Orioles and Blue Jays, and the Rays firing on all cylinders to widen their division lead over the Bronx Bombers. The slump isn't necessarily a red flag, it's just at a very inconvenient time.

This weekend, Judge and the Yankees will look to not only snap their skids, but drag the Rays back down to Earth enough to come within striking distance in the AL East standings. Ace Gerrit Cole will make his long-awaited return tonight against Tampa Bay's Nick Martinez.