Early offensive stat projections for the 2017 New York Yankees
Aaron Judge
- PA: 522
- AVG: .229
- HR: 30
- OBP: .301
- SLG%: .473
- RBI: 83
After struggling in his first go-around in the majors, seeing 30 home runs from Aaron Judge is a promising sight for fans.
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Last season, the 6-foot-8 mammoth struck out in precisely half of his at-bats while hitting a mere .179 in 27 games. If you’re expecting a turnaround, don’t expect the strikeouts to disappear.
FanGraphs, in addition to a mere .229 batting average, is projecting Judge to finish 2017 with a 34.3% strikeout rate. Since 2010, only Chris Carter (2013) and Mark Reynolds (2010) had higher rates but at least it’s much greater than the 50% he maintained in his first cup of coffee.
After all, we’ve had Judge in the organization since 2013 and know what kind of a player he is. A guy who will hit 25-30 home runs while also striking out a lot.
In his three-year minor league career, the 24-year old hit 64 home runs in 399 games but also went down on strikes 437. Know what you have, and know that’s what you’ll get.
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Christian Kouroupakis covers the New York Yankees and is the Editorial Director for ESNY. Interact with him and view his daily work by “liking” his facebook page and follow him on Twitter. All statistics are courtesy of Baseball Reference.com unless otherwise noted. Don’t hesitate to shoot him an email with any questions, criticisms, or concerns.
