Aaron Judge is Filling Our Eyes With That Double Vision

Just a few weeks ago, Aaron Judge had wrapped up the month of April hitting .207, striking out at an alarming rate, and instilling general panic among the Yankee fanbase. What a difference a few weeks can make. Since the calendar turned to May, Judge has been consistently murdering baseballs and suddenly the Yankees lead the American League in runs scored, home runs, walks, on-base percentage, and OPS. Even with Juan Soto's auspicious start to his Yankee career, Judge now leads the team in home runs, walks, slugging and OPS.

This is nothing new, of course. When Aaron Judge is healthy, he's always been among the best hitters in baseball. But the recent heater that he's on has revealed a new dimension to his game that we've never really seen before. It's a dimension that Foreigner - the soon-to-be Rock and Roll Hall of Famers - would be proud of.

When it gets through to me, it's always new to me

Prior to 2024, it was no secret that Judge's power came mostly in the form of home runs. As one of the most massive everyday players in major league history, triples are simply not on the menu for him (he has four in his career, and none since 2019). However, he was also strangely averse to hitting doubles. He has averaged only 19 doubles per season up to this point, with a career high of just 28 during his otherworldly 2022 campaign.

A player who hits the ball as hard and as frequently as Judge should probably be racking up more doubles, and thankfully he is doing that during his recent tear. In May, he's hit ten two-baggers, which is already the highest monthly total he's had in his career. For the season so far, his 16 doubles lead the American League.

Judge never does more than he really needs at the plate, but more doubles are always welcome.

Keith Allison/Wikimedia Commons

Why does this matter? Well, with Juan Soto now hitting in front of him, Judge is coming to the plate with at least one runner on base more frequently this year (49% of the time, compared to just 40% last year). When he hits a double, it virtually guarantees one of two things: (1) it will score a run for the Yankees, or (2) it will put runners on second and third, meaning that it takes only a well placed out to score a run for the Yankees. Simply put, more Judge doubles means more Yankee runs.

Now that I've overstated the obvious, can we get to the bottom of why this new doubles phenomenon is happening for Aaron Judge?

No disguise for that double vision

Thanks to Baseball Savant, we have tons of batted ball data for the entirety of Judge's career at our fingertips. At first glance, there's nothing out of the ordinary for him in 2024. There are many ways to measure how hard a player is hitting the ball, whether it's exit velocity, line drive percentage, barrel percentage, hard hit percentage, the list goes on. By all of those measures, Judge is right around his career norms, or at least is close to the marks he put up in his legendary 2022 season. He's also walking, striking out, and making contact at rates that seem normal for him.

What's different is the types of pitches being offered to Judge in 2024. Pitchers have clearly shifted their strategy by throwing more breaking balls and fewer offspeed pitches when facing Judge. The data backs up this approach. Judge has improved against offspeed stuff while struggling against breaking balls in recent years. However, it appears that Judge - always a smart hitter - is figuring out a way to combat this. Let's take a look at the stark contrast in his batted ball distribution between his 2022 season and now:

Judge certainly found success as a mostly pull hitter in 2022, but he's much more willing to go opposite field in 2024. I think this means that Judge is reacting to the increased use of breaking pitches against him by assuming they are coming and adjusting if it's something else. That is, he's willing to be late on fastballs or changeups and hit them to the opposite field in an effort to improve his performance on breaking balls. The quality of his contact hasn't suffered a bit as a result of this approach. In fact, his ability to more equitably hit the ball to all fields might just be the secret to his newfound double vision. The spray chart below shows that of his league-leading 16 doubles, more than half (nine) have been hit to center or right field where defenders aren't accustomed to hard hit balls off Judge's bat with such frequency.

Feeling down 'n' dirty, feeling kinda mean

Is it kinda mean that Aaron Judge, one of the best hitters in baseball, is finding new ways to attack pitchers and destroy baseballs with his double vision? You bet. Judge's ability to adapt to what pitchers are doing is what's made him such an effective hitter over the years. Now that he's in the same lineup as Juan Soto - another hitting mastermind, who may be around for only one season  - Yankee fans should be embracing this dirty, mean lineup for all it's worth. It's time we had a good time, ain't got time to wait...

Data used for this article was obtained from Baseball Reference and Baseball Savant. Foreigner references, which I promise to leave out of all articles moving forward, were courtesy of Genius.