Yankees aren’t pressing the panic button amid Aaron Judge’s slow start to the 2024 MLB season

Per Dan Martin of the New York Post, Yankees hitting coach James Rowson had this to say about Judge’s noticeable struggles before New York’s 2-1 win over the Detroit Tigers on Friday:

“I’m not overly, overly concerned about it, but obviously, when you look at it, you’re not gonna say there’s no concern,’’ hitting coach James Rowson said before the game. “There’s a level of wanting him to get going and getting back to himself, but right now, we’re trying to do the simple things of getting the timing of his swing right consistently.” 

Yankees: Aaron Judge’s struggles are hurting his productivity and the team’s success in moving along the bases

Judge has faltered at the plate to begin the year. Not only is the 32-year-old not hitting for average as he’s known to do, sporting a poor .209 batting average, but he’s also whiffing badly at the plate.

In 129 at-bats, the Fresno State product has struck out 43 times. He leads the entire American League in that department. It gets worse though. The former 2022 AL MVP is leading the entire Major Leagues with 10 double plays grounded into.

Not only is Judge not delivering individually, but he’s also costing the Yankees opportunities to effectively advance along the bases.

A close look shows that Judge may need to refine his swing to find more success at connecting on pitches

The reigning 2023 All-MLB Second Team member also has six home runs in 35 games thus far. He’s on track to finish with 27 homers if he plays a full 162-game slate. When taking a closer look at his power on the year, Judge is sporting a 55.2 percent hard-hit percentage, which is his lowest since 2020. Even further, his 34.5 percent sweet spot percentage is the second-lowest of his career and worst since his rookie outing and his 13.8 percent barrel percentage is the second-worst marker of his career.

Things have not gone the way Judge or the Yankees have envisioned this year, especially with superstar slugger Juan Soto now included alongside him in the batting order. Hence, Rowson is committed to fine-tuning the fundamentals to ensure that Judge breaks out of this slump. Rowson has no doubt that Judge is still “the same guy” and five-time all-star’s track record proves that he’s too good to remain this cold for much longer. Albeit, a change needs to be made, and soon for that to be the case and for the Yankees to look like a complete package as potential World Series favorites.