Aaron Judge is a big guy, in every sense of the word. He’s tall, strong, rich and influential, he even plays at the Big Apple. However, being a mammoth comes with its downsides: short door frames are a problem, getting into a car becomes much more complicated, finding a comfortable spot in bed becomes difficult. much more, and in baseball, you’re called to make attacks on many low altitudes in your area.
Since entering the tournament, no player has had more hits than Aaron Judge. Most of those balls come low, below Judge’s knee, and Yankees fans and broadcasters have had enough of it.
In his career, Judge has seen and refused to beat 1096 pitches at or below the end of the strike zone. 720 of which have been called strikes. That is a completely disproportionate number. In 2022, he saw 143 such throws… And 102 of them are called strikes.
Judge fell victim to poor refereeing too often, and despite the Yankees’ best efforts to Notice to MLB about their complaint, MLB really can’t do much about it.
Like what can they do, seriously? Telling the referee to be more lenient with Aaron Judge while he’s at the plate? Just look at his stats. That certainly won’t fly. The fact is that the low shot is one of the hardest to call the referee. At least with high pitches, the umpire can visually compare the position of the ball over the disc with the player. However, low field visibility is often obstructed by the catcher. Usually, referees simply follow through on instinct or judge a call based on how they called out to other players earlier in the game. Unfortunately for the Judge, that often means getting the so-called ball hits.
The obvious answer to this problem is automatic braking system (ABS). However, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has stated that he wants to deploy such a system by 2024. It was a season and a half.
So it’s not until 2024 that comes. There really isn’t much Judge or Yankees can do. That said, while I’m sure the Yankees are tearing up at Judge’s massive strike area, I’m sure they’ll cheer up when looking at the current MLB rankings or Judge’s stats in this season. Sometimes you just need to take what you have. Judge is still being researched and is considered a top 2 candidate for the current AL MVP.
Boo Hoo! He inadvertently faced a bit of bias from the umpire. Cry a lot. Worried about resigning him. That way, when robo-umps are introduced in 2024, you can get your revenge. Until then, deal with it.
