Aaron Judge, the reigning AL MVP, wasn’t always an elite player. Today, he’s undoubtedly among the top hitters that MLB has seen and his 2022 home run stats prove it. But breaking Roger Maris’ single-season HR record didn’t come easy at first. Neither did the hitting prowess that is attributed to the Yankees’ captain today.
All-Rise’s stature as a 6ft 7in player is something that has helped him as an outfielder. But when it comes to batting, some different advice could have helped him improve. In his early years in MLB, Judge struggled a bit after being named the AL Rookie of the Year. But in a recent talk with the LA Dodgers’ Mookie Betts, the Yankees captain revealed the advice that made him succeed.
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Richard Schenck’s advice changed Aaron Judge’s career trajectory
The Yankees are currently playing a series against the LA Dodgers but that doesn’t mean the two teams’ players don’t have time to have a chat off the diamond. Judge recently discussed all things baseball with Mookie Betts and mentioned his hitting technique.
“So 2016 in the big leagues, for two months in the year I hit 179 – brutal, getting booed – this ain’t for me…actually with my agent that brought this – ‘hey you know I got this hitting coach that I worked with a little bit near the end of my career…So I flew out to Arizona to meet him, I actually went with Rob Refsnyder, who’s with the Red Sox right now…”
“We’re hitting in the cage with this guy, and Mookie, I’m telling you, he watched me hit a little bit. And he said, try this, this, and this. I made a couple changes… I hit a couple balls, and it was instantly different. I felt like I’ve never hit a baseball like that. “ Judge told Betts.
“So I remember getting back in the car right after we hit for like an hour or two and I said, ‘Bro I think I’m hitting 50 homers next year,” Judge continued. Schenck’s advice truly transformed how Judge played, which was something a former teammate noted.
Judge is good friends with a Boston Red Sox player
It’s a pro and con of being a professional athlete that sometimes, one might face the same person they call a teammate wearing a different team’s jersey. But that doesn’t mean what happens on the field can’t stay there. Rob Refsnyder started his professional baseball career with the Yankees and became friends with Judge. In fact, he even called the Yankees captain the “best player in the world” once, despite playing on the team that the Bronx Bombers consider their archrivals!
Notably, Refsnyder has been playing with the Boston Red Sox for a couple of years now. But he never shied away to express his love and respect for the Yankees captain. Enough to tell about the aura Aaron Judge has created for himself.
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Written by
Edited by
Abhishek Kumar