Palladino: Yankees' Judge Seems Willing To Take Plunkings In Stride
By Ernie Palladino
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Aaron Judge might as well get used to it.
He's going to get hit now and then. It's the way of baseball. The only fact in question will involve intent -- whether the opposing pitcher meant to hit him, or if the ball "just got away" from the hurler.
And a lot of them will not coincidentally come an at-bat or two after Judge sends one of his adversary's serves into orbit.
Sometimes, the opposing pitcher receives a small measure of baseball justice and gets tossed, like the Rays' Matt Andriese did Saturday after he planted a payback pitch in Judge's ribs to lead off the sixth inning of Tampa Bay's 9-5 walloping of starter Masahiro Tanaka. The plunking came an inning after Yankees reliever Tommy Layne got Corey Dickerson in the back of the shoulder after Dickerson launched two of Tanaka's offerings into the stands in his first two at-bats.
Judge, who homered and doubled in his first two at-bats, didn't make a big deal of it. At 25, the 6-foot-7, 282-pound home run machine recognizes the long ball occasionally comes with a measure of pain.
"That's baseball," he said. "They're going to get guys. I was the one that got hit, and that was part of it. I was going to take my base; it's part of the game."
Considering the résumé Judge is compiling, he should probably expect to see a lot more pitches well to the inside of the plate, rib high.
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Judge's 15th homer of the season, which came in the second inning Saturday, put him in the franchise record books for hitting that many in the first 40 games of a season. Alex Rodriguez was last to do it, hitting 15 in the first 31 of 2007. Babe Ruth (1921, '26, '28, and '30), Mickey Mantle (1956), and Tino Martinez (1997) also hold that distinction.
That's pretty good company. But it also brings about attention. Even in this more genteel era where umpires can eject purpose pitchers, as Tampa Bay's Andriese learned Saturday, Judge will probably incur his share of bruises. Saturday's was his second of the season. But that number could easily grow into double figures.
They won't all be obvious. He's a big guy who doesn't generally bail out on the inside pitch. In the custom of today's hitters, he uses a guard to protect against errant serves. So a lot of those brushbacks that find Judge's various body parts will go unpunished.
Judge probably won't care. With his bulk, he probably won't even feel half of them. He could, in fact, become another Don Baylor.
Fans may remember Baylor as a fierce power hitter who hit 71 homers for the Yanks from 1983-85. But history also showed the 6-foot-1, 190-pound slugger to be one tough hombre. He was another who never bailed out of the batter's box unless a pitch was coming for his head.
As a result, he finished his 19-year career as fourth all-time with 267 hit-by-pitches. Only Houston's Craig Biggio, second with 285, had more in the so-called "modern era."
Baylor, playing in the days when elbow and shin guards barely existed, took his medicine with admirable aplomb, allowing the ball to strike wherever it pleased, only to drop straight down to die in the dirt. He took his base without so much as a grimace.
"I only rubbed once," Baylor bragged. "I got hit with a Nolan Ryan fastball. I got halfway down to first and said, 'Oh, the heck with it.'"
He also never charged the mound, and not because he was such a good sport.
"I was afraid I'd kill someone," he said.
It remains to be seen if Judge becomes a regular target. If he does, he won't be the first Yankee. Phil Rizzuto, who hit behind Joe DiMaggio in an era when baseball justice demanded plunkings, said he spent half his career in the dirt. A-Rod ranked 14th on the all-time list. And Derek Jeter found himself only a few notches back at No. 17 with 170 over 20 years in pinstripes.
Judge may never endure the volume of a Baylor, A-Rod, or Jeter. But it won't be a coincidence, either, if a few pitches each year "get away" from a team after he's victimized its pitching staff for 900 or so feet of homers over a few innings.
Considering his start, he can expect a lot more inside attention.
How many find their mark -- or leave one, for that matter -- is anyone's guess.
But judging by his reaction Saturday, Judge will gladly take the free base.
It's just part of the game.
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