The home run chase is over. There will not be any more pitchers shying away from pitching to Aaron Judge in fear of allowing a historic homer.
But there may be pitchers shying away from pitching to Judge in fear of allowing a game-changing, postseason homer.
In April, the first month in which the Guardians and Yankees faced off this season, Judge walked in 9.5 percent of his plate appearances. In July, which began with another Yankees-Guardians series, Judge walked at a 15.2 percent clip. By September and October, opponents were walking Judge 24.3 percent of the time.“We’re going to attack him with respect, but we are going to attack him,” Cleveland pitching coach Carl Willis said during Monday’s workout day in The Bronx.
Teams know how excellent pitching is these days, and even mistake pitches can be missed because of the velocity and movement.“If they’re going to walk me and put me on base, I’m happy for it,” Judge said. “Because I know we’ve got a stacked lineup of guys that are waiting to drive me in.” The Guardians pledged to be careful, but not to the point that Anthony Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton would always step up with a runner to drive in.
“Sometimes … you have to get good hitters out,” Cleveland manager Terry Francona said. “You keep walking people, you’re going to give up runs.”
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