No Judge = No Good

by Paul Semendinger

June 8, 2023

***

Aaron Judge is back on the Injured List. He's out for at least 10 days. The hope is that he returns quickly.

The Yankees are a team built, almost exclusively, around Aaron Judge.

I compiled the following quick stats from baseball-reference. These statistics show a very important and unequivocal truth:

When Aaron Judge plays, and is hitting, the Yankees win at a high rate. When he's not hitting, the Yankees don't win, or, better said, they don't win often enough.

Take a look:

2023: Yankees Overall Record: 36-26

Aaron Judge has started in 30 of the games the Yankees have won.

In the 30 wins, Judge has hit .387/18/36. .496/.972/1.468

Aaron Judge has started in 19 games the Yankees have lost.

In the 19 losses, Judge has hit .145/1/4. .250/.217/.467

2022: Yankees Record: 99-63

Judge started in 96 games the Yankees won.

In the 96 wins, Judge hit .340/49/104 .441/.797/1.238

Judge played in 61 games the Yankees lost (57 times as a starter).

In the 61 losses, Judge hit .259/13/27 .397/.488/.885

2021: Yankees Record: 92-70

Judge played in 86 games the Yankees won (93.4%). (He played in 83 games as a starter).

In the 86 wins, Judge hit .332/30/77 .428/.665/1.093

Judge played in 62 games the Yankees lost (61 as a starter).

In the 62 losses, Judge hit .227/9/21 .292/.380/.672

2020 Yankees Record: 33-27

Judge started in 16 games the Yankees won.

In the 16 wins, Judge hit .333/8/18 .420/.767/1.187

Judge played in 12 games the Yankees lost (10 as a starter).

In the 12 losses, Judge hit .146/1/4 .205/.244/.448

2019 Yankees Record: 103-59

Judge played in 61 games the Yankees won (60 as a starter).

In the 61 wins, Judge hit .303/20/39 .412/.623/1.036

Judge played in 41 games the Yankees lost (39 as a starter).

In the 41 losses, Judge hit .225/7/16 .331/.408/.740

***

It is clear, abundantly clear, that when Aaron Judge plays, and hits, the Yankees do well. When he doesn't play, or when he doesn't hit, the Yankees don't do well at all.

This is a team primarily built around Aaron Judge.

The Yankees need him healthy and hitting in order to compete in 2023.

(Of note, while Aaron Judge had a history earlier in his career of being often injured, he seems to have put that behind him. He absolutely did the last two years. His current injury was a fluke due to the construction of Dodgers Stadium.)