Aaron Judge is in the midst of another incredible campaign where he is hitting home runs every 9.7 at-bats and continues to lower his chase and miss rates. Let’s breakdown some of the stats that have made him a one-of-a-kind slugger in MLB.
Since Judge has entered the league there’s been a steady improvement with his miss and chase rate. While his miss rate isn’t the lowest, he is swinging less on pitches out of the zone. Let’s take a look at what he’s done on pitches in the zone.
In 2022, Judge started to zero in on pitches in the zone and had a whopping 41.1% well-hit rate. While the miss is slightly higher and the well-hit is slightly lower, the numbers are similar in his 2024 season likely in part to the elevated BABIP on in zone pitches.
From 2016 to 2024, Judge has seen a rather large jump of sliders (or sweepers) from opposing pitchers. In 2016 he saw sliders 16.7% of the time in a small sample and in 2024 he is seeing them 29.6% of the time. How has he fared on that pitch over the years?
This is where we see a sharp, marked improvement in his game. The miss numbers have fluctuated in the high 30s or low 40s but the chase on sliders has gone down considerably despite seeing an uptick in the 2024 season.
Throwing sliders seems to still be the best way to get positive results against the Yankees slugger and we certainly suggest to stay away from the fastball. Since the 2022 season, Aaron Judge is slugging .772 on fastballs. Second place is Ohtani (.679) and third is Soto (.614). How would you approach pitching Judge in his current form?