Who would Scouts prefer Aaron Judge or Pete Alonso?

One of the few things the Mets and Yanks share are young exciting sluggers: Aaron Judge and Pete Alonso. Read the scouts take on the two.

In a recent article published by SNY.tv, writer Matthew Cerrone detailed how a majority of scouts would rather have Pete Alonso than Aaron Judge. The New York Mets and New York Yankees sluggers, respectively are more similar than they are different.

Alonso is the NL Rookie of the Year favorite and one of the lone bright spots for an overall disappointing Mets 2019 season. Judge is a proven star, who has battled injuries in 2019 and come back stronger and more productive than ever. The clubs are- and have been for many years- moving in divergent directions, however, their star players are not an adequate reflection of that.

Both have similar approaches at the plate, be patient and wait out the pitcher. They each are prone to the strikeout, work out a solid number of walks, and drive the ball all over the park. Judge has the upper hand by far in the category of walks. While this seems a slight to Alonso, the Yankees number 99 would have an advantage on nearly the entire league in this respect.

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Alonso takes a most vicious cut and consistently drives the ball further than Judge, although the rapid rate in which balls are traveling further could account for this. The Mets first baseman has such proficient swing due to the fact that he almost immediately gets the bat into the strike zone. Judge has a similar swing, although the scouts seem to believe that Alonso is slightly for effective.

The largest disparity between the two is their defense. First off, Judge is a right fielder and Alonso is the first baseman. Alonso has been slightly better than advertised as a defender- meaning he has been about average. Meanwhile, Judge is an exceptional right fielder, with stellar arm strength and solid range in the small RF of Yankee Stadium.

The main issue between the two that makes them somewhat close in terms of value is Judge’s injury history. Alonso does not have Judge’s successful track record or defensive prowess, yet Judge has consistently been injured during his MLB tenure.

One might attribute being hit by a pitch and fracturing a wrist unfortunate, which is a fair assessment. However, the rehab of that injury took particularly-following an initial optimistic timetable- long and his team suffered because of it. The very next season in 2019, he suffered a significant oblique strain that cost him two full months.

Again he recovered well and is just as impactful as normal, despite such injuries becoming a regularity. It should be reiterated that injuries are no fault of the player, yet must be factored into value. Teams certainly consider it strongly, so should the observers.

All in all, the scouts are not as far off as the initial reaction would lead one to expect. However, Aaron Judge is clearly the better player for the moment and the conversation would certainly change if Pete Alonso was this successful as long as Judge has been.