3. Performance of Aaron Judge
Of course, not all surprises are bad. Case in point, we have Judge.
Judge is a big, strong, dude. From that end, the tremendous power that the New York Yankees rookie has shown in 2017 shouldn’t be surprising.
The reactions from @JamesKaprielian and @AaronHicks31 are fantastic. https://t.co/uLLIpTuRSQ pic.twitter.com/0TwfevwIWZ
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 13, 2017
But by the numbers, it is.
Judge appeared briefly for the Yankees in 2016. While he showed some power (four home runs in 27 games), the overall performance (.179/.263/.345) was pretty darn mediocre. But the surprise doesn’t really come from that. No, the surprise comes from what Judge did throughout his Minor League career.
In 2016, Judge hit 19 home runs in the minors. If we add that to the four he hit with the Yankees, we get 23, which is (for now) a career high. We haven’t even hit July yet, and he already has 22. As his .338/.443/.703 slash line shows shows, Judge isn’t exactly an all-or-nothing masher, either.
Based on what we saw in the majors in 2016 and the minors from 2014-2016, none of this was exactly predictable.