A huge new report creates more questions about whether Aaron Judge is the right fit to be the captain of the New York Yankees.
Despite going to the All-Star game three times and being the clear face of the franchise, it wasn’t until Judge’s seventh year in the Bronx that he was named the 16th captain in team history. It is a role that comes with massive pressure and expectations. It isn’t for every player, and there have always been questions about whether he is the right person for the job.
The Yankees have reached the ALCS twice and one World Series with Judge as captain. However, they also missed the playoffs in 2023 and are on the verge of being swept out of the 2025 ALDS this week by division rivals the Toronto Blue Jays. It is a mixed postseason bag for the captain. And getting to the playoffs is all it’s about in the Bronx.
Well, on Monday, a new report offered up some new evidence that Judge wasn’t the captain the Yankees needed during one of their darkest moments this season.
Giancarlo Stanton helped motivate the Yankees out of July slump?
In July, New York was mired in a notable slump and seemed stuck in the water. They finished the month with a 12-13 record, blew their lead in the AL East, and lost five straight to begin August. It created a bunch of speculation in Gotham that they might miss the playoffs.
However, they began to turn things around in August, and they got so hot down the stretch that they nearly won the AL East title in the final days of the season. So what was the impetus for that late-season surge? According to The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty, it was veteran slugger Giancarlo Stanton, not team captain Aaron Judge.
During their losing streak to begin August, the 35-year-old allegedly took matters into his own hands, and “the respected veteran went off for about five minutes.” Tearing into his teammates for their poor play in recent weeks.
His rant reportedly left them speechless, but it was also the sort of smack in the face they badly needed to wake up. “We kind of needed somebody to get (on) our a**es like that,” Ryan McMahon told the outlet.
- Aaron Judge stats: .331 AVG, .457 OBP, .688 SLG, 1.144 OPS, 53 HR, 114 RBI, 137 R
Is Giancarlo Stanton the real captain of the Yankees?
It is great that the team had a player like Stanton who read the room and saw something needed to be said. This is not the first time there have been stories that paint the five-time All-Star as the real leader of the locker room.
Stanton reportedly has long been viewed as a veteran voice many teammates turn to, and he played a key role in keeping Jazz Chisholm Jr. confident during the team’s run to the World Series in 2024. One would hope more stories like this would come out about Judge.
That doesn’t mean the two-time MVP doesn’t try to lead in the locker room and motivate his teammates. However, it just seems like his efforts as a captain don’t have the same impact as a player like Stanton. Which isn’t good because Stanton’s run in NYC will end soon, while Judge is locked into six more years as the “captain” of the Yankees.
