Every year before spring training starts, the Yankees hold what they call a “Captain’s Camp.” They bring their top prospects in for a few days and teach them how to be leaders, how to put the team first and how to handle life in the big leagues.
It appears as if Aaron Judge paid attention.
By looking at his numbers, you’d guess right away that Judge is a raw rookie. Through his first 20 games, he’s hitting .169/.247/.338 with 3 homers, 9 RBI and an alarming 35 strikeouts in 65 at-bats. After demolishing a 450-foot home run in his first career at-bat, Judge got off to a nice start. He became the first Yankee to collect extra base hits in each of his first three career games. He also became the second Yankee to hit a home run in each of his first two career games.
Since then, pitchers have adjusted, and Judge has entered a prolonged slump. He understands that it’s up to him to adjust back. If you listen to this postgame comments, he’s handling it like a 10-year veteran.
“It’s part of the game, you have to keep working,’’ Judge said. He was then asked if he felt frustrated by his play, and his answer really impressed me. It falls in line with what the Yankees have been about, and it was very Jeter-esque: team first.
“Not really. We got a good team here and I just kind of feed off them and if I get out, and try to do something on defense or my next at-bat.’’ It’s worth mentioning that Judge made two good defensive plays yesterday, one coming in on a dive and the other going back against the wall. He’s not letting his woes at the plate affect him in the field, and he’s still making a positive impact on the game.
This is a pretty impressive mindset for a 24-year-old kid, and it’s a good thing for the Yankees. The way a player handles himself in adversity says a lot about how he’ll handle success, in my opinion.
Judge’s confidence hasn’t waned, either. He rightly believes that every day is a new chance to turn it around. He knows that he’s made adjustments at every single level he’s played at, too. Remember, Judge hit .224/.308/.373 with 74 strikeouts in 61 games when he was first called up to triple-A in 2015.
Entering 2016, Judge changed his stance and approach at the plate. He immediately began to see results. This year, he hit .270/.366/.489 with 98 strikeouts in 93 games. He now has to keep working to adjust at the big league level. “The [veterans] have told me that everybody goes through it,’’ Judge said. “ ‘Keep working and everything is going to work out, we’ve got your back.’ ’’
Last year, I wrote something on Greg Bird and how he’s cut from Yankees cloth. He had hit two home runs in a game for the first time in his career, but instead he focussed on giving praise to Carlos Beltran, who hit before him and had good at-bats, allowing Bird to see what the pitchers were throwing. Bird also attended the “Captain’s Camp”, and he, too, sounded like a veteran in his postgame comments that day.
The Yankees have done a great job preparing their young players for life at the big league level. They’re polished, mature and very team oriented. Aaron Judge should be just fine.
