When it comes to spring training it’s normal not to get attached to the numbers a player may produce. Orioles slugger Mark Trumbo at one point was hitting .182 and he himself said there was no cause for concern.
The battles during the spring training months are what makes the introduction to regular season play that much more exciting. The one position battle that’s left us on the edge of our seats is the one between Aaron Judge and Aaron Hicks, who are fighting for a starting spot on the New York Yankees Opening Day roster at the right field position.
So far, it looks like manager Joe Girardi is leaning towards Hicks at the starting role, which means 24-year-old Judge could start in Triple-A. We mentally prepared ourselves for that going into February, but Judge has had an impressive stint in Florida that shouldn’t go unnoticed.
Aaron Judge is hitting .327/.393/.564 with 3 HR, 12/6 K/BB ratio in 22 games this spring. https://t.co/dd0HtVudA0
— D.J. Short (@djshort) March 29, 2017
Those are numbers we cannot shy away from.
However, the latest with Judge from Girardi is that he may indeed start the season in the minors.
Yankees still thinking about having Aaron Judge begin the season in Triple-A. Girardi: "He needs to play, that's the bottom line."
— Bryan Hoch ⚾️ (@BryanHoch) March 29, 2017
We don’t want to take anything away from Hicks, who has definitely proven himself as time has gone on. However, a .217/.281/.381 line in 2016 is showing he certainly regressed since an impressive 2015.
Judge came out guns blazing when he was promoted to the big league club last season. He eventually slowed down as well, but we have reached a time where Judge is not only Acapable of proving himself, but the Yankees are rebuilding. And you can’t rebuild if you continuously push back the rookies who can get the job done.