Full Speed Ahead for Aaron Judge and the Yankees

On the first day of the season, Aaron Judge and the Yankees offense didn’t make much noise. They scraped together four runs against the Brewers, led by homers from Austin Wells and Anthony Volpe. But for the next two games, they feasted on Milwaukee pitching. Saturday brought a nine-homer barrage in a 20-9 victory. They cranked four more homers on their way to double-digit runs again the next day. The Yankees are hot – and Judge is at the center of it.
Well, he’s one of the things at the center of it. Torpedo bats are getting their 15 minutes of fame as you read this. Several Yankees are using these bats, which reach their greatest width around the sweet spot and taper thereafter, to great effect so far this year. The bats have been around for a few years, and the Yankees aren’t the only ones using them, but now they’re a topic of conversation across big league clubhouses. Honestly? I don’t have a lot to tell you about torpedo bats that hasn’t already been written. But I do have this to say: Judge isn’t using one, and he’s the beating heart of New York’s offensive explosion to start the season.
It’s been only three games, of course, so you can’t read much into batting lines. But Judge is slugging 1.818 through those games, with a .545/.643/1.818 slash line that’s good for a 547 wRC+. He’s only struck out twice. He had exactly one three-game stretch this good last year – and he won MVP unanimously.
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