Yankees' Aaron Judge in midst of problematic 1-year difference

Yankees' Aaron Judge in midst of problematic 1-year difference originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Baseball stats are a tricky thing early in the season. Sample sizes aren't huge, and there's a long season still to be played.

That doesn't mean comparisons can't be made. They may not reveal a whole trend, but they can still be fascinating, like what's going on with Aaron Judge for the New York Yankees so far.

Judge has been part of a relatively slow offensive start for New York, one that also includes the likes of Jazz Chisholm, Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham and Austin Wells.

And what really stands out when digging into Judge's stats is how differently he started the 2025 campaign.

Judge has played 14 games in 2026 through Saturday, and he's hitting .212 with three home runs, seven RBI, seven walks, 18 strikeouts and three steals.

Through 14 games in 2025 for Judge, he was hitting .358 with six home runs, 20 RBI, two steals, 10 walks and 14 strikeouts.

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So the strikeouts were fewer last year and the walks were more while Judge was accessing a lot more power.

Does that inherently mean a particular outcome is coming for the rest of the season? No, probably not.

It does mean Judge has some work to do to catch up to last season's incredible numbers, though.

It also means the Yankees would surely appreciate one of those patented Judge hot streaks. It hasn't happened yet. It seems like he's due.

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