Why in the world is Aaron Judge taking reps at first base?
The New York Yankees superstar, Aaron Judge was seen taking reps at first base recently and it’s starting to ignite some big questions and some serious debate. Some fans wonder why Judge is there. Some wonder if this means the Yankees are going to move him to first.
Bryce Harper was able to make the transition from the outfield to first base and he’s done a tremendous job of transitioning. However, Harper only moved to the infield to take pressure off his arm after he suffered a torn UCL and underwent Tommy John surgery.
The trade market is super deep with outfield trade pieces, but rather shallow at first base. The Yankees first base situation has already been disastrous and if they can’t add at the deadline, they may be looking at any option possible to get an extra bat in the lineup.
Could the Yankees be taking a page out of Phillies book by moving their superstar outfielder in to first base?
No, the Yankees won’t be changing Aaron Judge’s position
During the same practice above, Marcus Stroman was seen taking reps at second base. Stroman at second base is a small piece of the new school coaching of pitchers with the idea of keeping them athletic rather than robotic. Many pitchers across the league take groundballs and work in the infield as a way of staying athletic.
Judge playing first base is just a precautionary thing. He played a bit of first base in his past which could make him the New York emergency first baseman. With how shallow the Yankees are in the infield, getting Judge reps at first base shouldn’t be looked into as a position change, but rather to keep him comfortable there in case a worst-case scenario situation happens.
The staff at RotoWire had some insight about Judge’s first base availability based on previous reps he’d taken at the position during spring training.
“Judge has worked out at first base before and played the position during his freshman season at Fresno State, so it’s not totally foreign to him. That said, it seems like it would only happen in an emergency situation, with Anthony Rizzo set as the starter and DJ LeMahieu offering depth at the position.”
Judge is going to stay in the outfield and that’s for the best for now. But again, this is likely an emergency-only situation in which we’d see him at first. The Yankees are desperate but not that desperate.
