Aaron Judge’s – Aaron Judge is in the longest RBI drought of his career, going hitless against the Blue Jays in ways that have the Yankees captain pressing for answers right before a tough weekend at home against the first-place Rays.
NEW YORK — The stage had been set for Aaron Judge to answer a teammate’s surge. Earlier this week, Ben Rice launched his 16th home run of the season, grabbing a share of the Yankees’ team lead. In April, Judge had even joked, “I couldn’t let him catch me.”
This week against the Blue Jays, Judge didn’t catch up.
Instead. the captain’s bat went quiet at Yankee Stadium in a 2-0 loss on Thursday. and the gaps kept piling up. Judge said, “I’m not doing enough at the plate,” adding, “That’s what we’re doing right there. … I wouldn’t say we’re not seeing the ball well. I think it’s about making sure we’re swinging at the right pitches.”.
For most players, a couple of hitless nights are a normal bump. Judge isn’t most players. Three American League MVP awards sit in his trophy case. and when he struck out four times in Wednesday’s loss to Toronto. then took a collar on Thursday. it turned routine at-bats into something fans could feel.
Thursday marked Judge’s 10th consecutive game without an RBI — matching the longest drought of his career, a stretch he has done three times previously. In the series against Toronto pitching, he went 1-for-15, with one walk and eight strikeouts.
The questions followed him into the clubhouse, but manager Aaron Boone didn’t treat the slump as panic fuel. “He’s just going through it a little bit right now,” Boone said. “Usually, that means good things are coming on the other side. He’s a little in-between, probably. Fastballs got on him, and he was a little out in front of some other pitches.”.
Boone has a consistent way of framing Judge even when the results wobble. He frequently lauds Judge’s hot streaks by saying that he is simply “playing a different game than everyone else.” And even on the off nights when the production “returns to sea level. ” Boone said he isn’t concerned about his superstar.
“Usually anytime a hitter goes through it, it’s a little timing related,” Boone said. “I think that’s all it is. He’ll get through it, and somebody will pay the price real soon.”
Judge’s numbers still point to a season that hasn’t disappeared. Entering Friday’s series against the Rays, he’s batting .250 (46-for-184) with 16 homers and 30 RBIs in 51 games, carrying a .935 OPS. He is tied with Rice for third in homers among all Major Leaguers and is seventh in OPS.
But the timing of this drought lands hard. This weekend brings the first-place Rays to town, a team Judge knows can make even elite bats feel ordinary. He said. “Anytime you’ve got a hot team coming in. it’s going to make it tough. ” and added that the Rays “took care of business in Tampa” when the Yankees saw them earlier.
“Once we’ve got to tighten up a couple of things here with us and we’ll be right where we need to be. ” Judge said. “The offense isn’t too far off. You get a couple of timely hits. you get a couple of walks when you need it. and some good things are going to happen. You’ve just got to get some traffic back out there.”.
The Blue Jays series closed with Judge stuck searching for the right swing, the right moment, the right payoff. Now the Yankees face a weekend that can’t afford empty bases — and a captain who knows that getting back to form isn’t just a personal goal. It’s what the lineup needs, right now, when the first-place team comes to Yankee Stadium.
Aaron Judge New York Yankees Ben Rice Toronto Blue Jays Tampa Bay Rays MLB Yankee Stadium RBI drought OPS homers