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Aaron Judge on Yankees' Offensive Woes After Sweep by Tigers: 'It's Unacceptable'
May 30, 2021
New York Yankees star Aaron Judge called the performance of the team's offense "unacceptable" after the Bronx Bombers were swept by the Detroit Tigers on Sunday.
Judge told reporters he expects things to improve but said, "You just can't keep coming to the plate trying to do the same thing expecting different results."
Yankees Videos @snyyankeesAaron Judge remains confident that the Yankees' offense will turn it around:<br><br>"I've seen each guy at their best at some point in their career... it's gonna come, but what we've putting out there right now is not our best and it's unacceptable" pic.twitter.com/IZLmedjWqJ
With Sunday's 6-2 loss, New York has dropped five of its last six, scoring 10 runs during that span. Rather than a blip unfolding over recent days, the offensive woes have been a season-long problem.
According to FanGraphs, the Yankees are 24th in slugging percentage (.374), 16th in weighted on-base average (.307) and 15th in weighted runs created plus (97).
Judge (.962 OPS) and Giancarlo Stanton (.850 OPS) are largely delivering at the plate. They have been the outliers, however, which is where the trouble arises for New York.
DJ LeMahieu is slugging .344, on pace to be his worst over a full season. Gary Sanchez and Mike Ford are batting .190 and .140, respectively. Rougned Odor hasn't benefited much from the short porch in right field at Yankee Stadium, with his five home runs failing to offset 26 strikeouts in 102 plate appearances. Clint Frazier is going backward and slugging .305 after an encouraging 2020 season.
Regressing to the mean isn't always a bad thing, and you'd expect proven contributors such as LeMahieu, Gleyber Torres and Gio Urshela to turn things around.
"It’s been a little inconsistent; I feel like it’s how we’ve been all year," LeMahieu told reporters Saturday. "We’ve put ourselves in good position, the pitchers have done a really good job. I think we’re all still waiting for that breakout series offensively, a breakout week, but I know we’re grinding and competing."
The Yankees are 24th in batting average on balls in play (.281), per FanGraphs, so a little more good luck could have a corollary effect on their performance.
But Judge referenced how improvement doesn't happen in a vacuum.