New York Yankees: What To Do With Aaron Judge

What do you do with a young player like Aaron Judge who hits a towering home run in his first game for the New York Yankees, and then pretty much fizzles after that. Should the Yankees continue to put him in the lineup, bench him, or maybe even do something else?

There is no question that Aaron Judge fits into the future plans of the New York Yankees. In fact, many believe that he is destined to be a star for many years to come in a Yankee uniform. The problem for the Yankees at the moment though is that Judge is taking a cold bath in his first few weeks with the big league team. What, if anything, should the Yankees do with him?

Normally, when a young player like Aaron Judge struggles (2 for 22 with 11 strikeouts in his last seven games), you consider sending him down for more seasoning and to protect what could be a frail ego at this point.

But the problem with that is that is that the minor league seasons end a few days from now and there is no place to send him. However, if they go that route with Judge, the Yankees could get lucky because it looks like their AAA team in Scranton will be playing extra games in the International League playoffs.

But even that gets tricky. What if the Yankees send him to Scranton for the playoffs there and whatever is going on with him continues? As of today, Scranton is in first place and their magic number to clinch the top spot is six. Judge has been gone from the team for almost a month now and it’s possible that the other guys on the team will not take kindly to Judge coming in there to help the team in the playoffs.

The Yankees may be at a crossroads with Aaron Judge as to what they should do with him down the stretch. It’s not like there are no choices……..

On the other hand, he could go down there and pull a Gary Sanchez leading the team to victory after victory and ultimately a title. You just don’t know.

It’s true too that the decision the Yankees make would be a lot easier if the team was not in the midst of a surge that’s brought them to three games over .500 for the first time this season, allowing them to emerge as a legitimate contender for the final Wild Card spot in the American League.

Another possibility is to do what Joe Girardi has been doing which is to keep writing his name on the lineup card, thereby expressing a vote of confidence in Aaron Judge that may or may not produce immediate rewards.

The decision to keep him playing has, of course, been made easier by the one man wrecking crew demonstration we are witnessing with Sanchez. But, for how long will that continue?

The Yankees find themselves in a similar situation with Tyler Austin (1-21 in his last seven games). But Austin is not Judge and he doesn’t come with the hype and expectations that Judge has attached to him.

Also to be considered for both players is the invaluable experience they are gaining by being in the thick of a pennant race in the big leagues, and especially one that’s taking place in the New York City hotspot.

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Finally, what Judge is experiencing gives the Yankees a unique opportunity to gauge the temperament and body language of Judge as he goes through a difficult time mentally. Because you find out more about a player when he’s going bad than you do when everything is breaking in your favor, as in the way it’s happening for Sanchez now.

As always, these things aren’t black or white and there’s a lot of grey mixed in there. Judge is certainly a big strong kid. So no matter what the Yankees decide for him, we can only that his head and heart are as strong as the rest of his body.

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