If New York Yankees want to win, start Aaron Judge
With a 6-foot-7 frame at only 23 years of age, most people would certainly think of a professional basketball player that is tormenting the NBA. Weighing 275 pounds, most people would think of a muscular athlete in football. But with hearing the name of New York Yankees top prospect Aaron Judge, every minor league pitcher begins to shake.
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Judge is a very large man and is even taller than some pitchers standing on the mound (the mound only being elevated 10 inches above the rest of the field). He has the ability to stare down his opposing pitcher and scare them out of the strike zone before he even enters the batting box. In 2015, he slashed an impressive .255/.330/.448 with 20 homers and 72 RBIs. So why have not many people heard of this man before? Because, the Yankees do not have room to call him up on their old-aged roster.
Currently starting for the Yankees in right field is the veteran Carlos Beltran. In 2015, Beltran had a very rough start, but he got back on track and even had a few clutch moments for the Yankees down the stretch, such as his game-winning hit against the Blue Jays late in the year.
Despite that, Beltran is a 38-year-old man with very limited defensive ability. Yet the Yankees start him in right field. Beltran’s offense does not entirely make up for this, however. He ended 2015 with an offensive line of .276/.337/.471, ripping off 19 homers and 67 RBI. As well, he finished with an overall WAR value of 1.0. His oWAR was helpful to the Yankees however, as it was 2.5. His defensive numbers more than countered that with a -2.0 value.
When comparing Judge and Beltran side-by-side, Judge is putting together about the same offensive numbers. The big difference between these two is the defense. As each day goes by, each player gets a little older. Beltran is past his prime, but Judge is about to run right into his own. This means that Beltran’s production is very unreliable as he ages, whereas Judge can only get better. Plus, with that gigantic and muscular physique, he definitely has the strength to produce even larger power numbers on the offensive side of the ball.
Judge has definitely been tearing the cover off of the ball in the minors as well as in his previous spring training appearances in New York Yankees camps. All he needs now is to be given the opportunity to go out and compete at the Major League level. He has definitely proven himself worthy of the shot.
"“He’s a guy, the future of this organization, and I feel like I’ll help him. When I was growing up and in the big leagues the first year, I had some veteran guys who took care of me, helped me, along the way. The game of baseball is not about what you can do for yourself — I know what I can do for me — but about trying to impact younger guys. I take pride in that” – Carlos Beltran"
The weirdest thing about this whole situation, though, is that the Yankees do not quite see this concept how Beltran does. Recently, Beltran reached out to Judge to be a mentor of his, both at spring training and going forward. Beltran knows that his days playing baseball are numbered, especially since he is about to play in his contract year and is most likely going to retire at the season’s conclusion.
Beltran is almost blatantly saying he is going to retire, wanting to teach the young kid some wisdom about the game so that Judge can become an even better player.
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Nevertheless, the New York owes Beltran somewhere in the neighborhood of $15 million for the 2016 year. They are obviously going to want to get their money’s worth out of him with regular starts. They can’t DH him all year because they already have a player as their permanent DH in Alex Rodriguez. So the biggest question is what to do with Beltran?
The answer, though, is quite simple. Use him in a platoon role the same way the Yankees did a few years ago with Raul Ibanez. By doing this, the Yankees will be solving many problems at once. They will be limiting the defensive liability of Beltran’s play, yet keeping his experience and knowledge around the clubhouse to help the younger guys.
The Yankees won’t have to rush Judge into an everyday starting role in New York, but they can still be giving Judge the experience he needs at the major league level. The combined production of Carlos Beltran and Aaron Judge will open up the capabilities of the dangerous yet fragile Yankees lineup.