Part 14 of a series analyzing the New York Yankees Aaron Judge has become the face of the franchise for the Yankees, but what will that face ultimately represent? Will it be for the record-breaking home run total in his rookie season, the Judge’s Chambers in right field and helping lead the Yankees to three …
Part 14 of a series analyzing the New York Yankees
Aaron Judge has become the face of the franchise for the Yankees, but what will that face ultimately represent?
Will it be for the record-breaking home run total in his rookie season, the Judge’s Chambers in right field and helping lead the Yankees to three straight postseasons — or an injury-marred tenure that’s remembered more for missed opportunities and no World Series?
The question still has to be answered, but Judge’s latest injury — a fractured rib — and the delay of the 2020 season due to the coronavirus pandemic isn’t helping.
It’s clear he knows what’s at stake.
Following last year’s loss to the Astros in the ALCS, when Jose Altuve won it with a walk-off homer off Aroldis Chapman, Judge was perhaps the strongest voice in the postgame clubhouse.
“It’s a failure,’’ Judge said. “We talked about winning the division and winning the World Series. … No matter how many games we won during the regular season, it is a failure.’’
Of course, history has become more complicated in the wake of the sign-stealing scandals that tarnished the Astros’ 2017 title, as well as Boston’s in 2018. The Yankees saw their playoff runs end to those teams in both seasons.
And Judge was clearly agitated by what Houston did — and didn’t buy the notion the Astros weren’t still rigging the system last season, even if MLB’s investigation said it didn’t have enough evidence to find proof.
“I was pretty mad, pretty upset to know that we were probably cheated out of the possibility of making it to the World Series,’’ Judge said this spring. “[Because] as a kid — forget the individual awards, forget how many games you win, how many homers you hit — it’s about winning the World Series. And to hear that you got cheated out of that opportunity, that’s tough to kind of let go.’’
The Yankees seemed to be in prime position to move past it this season, with Boston and Houston in various forms of disarray, both with new managers in the wake of the scandal and Houston without Gerrit Cole and Boston without Mookie Betts.
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Now, the Yankees will be thrust into a shortened season, at best, and Judge is still dealing with the rib injury he likely suffered in September that has yet to heal.
The health situation is nothing new for Judge, who made his debut in August 2016 and homered in each of his first two games.
“It’s exciting to see what’s about to unfold here with the Yankees,” Judge said before that first game, when he was called up with Tyler Austin following Alex Rodriguez’s final game — and shortly after the arrival of Gary Sanchez.
Less than a month later, his first season in the majors was cut short by a strained oblique.
In 2017, he played through a shoulder injury that required arthroscopic surgery following the season. Then came a fractured wrist that was initially misdiagnosed in 2018. He ended up missing seven weeks before a mid-September return.
And last season, Judge missed two months with a left oblique strain before this spring’s setback.
Judge has been at the forefront of this new Yankees core, along with Sanchez, Gleyber Torres and Luis Severino.
It’s led to those three playoff runs, consecutive 100-win regular seasons under Aaron Boone and a dramatic playoff victory over Cleveland in 2017 in Joe Girardi’s final season.
But for Judge to become a lasting Yankees icon, he still needs a ring. And less time on the injured list.
