The Yankees Unstoppable Force! Star Slugger Proven Irreplaceable in Baseball
With the start of the regular season right around the corner, the New York Yankees will be trying to overcome injuries and still make it a successful campaign.
It has been a challenging spring for the Yankees on the injury front. Currently, ace Gerrit Cole is already out for the year after Tommy John surgery.
Furthermore, both Giancarlo Stanton and Luis Gil will be starting the season on the injured list with returns in the summer being the hope for both of them.
Having so many key players already expected to miss significant amounts of time, New York is going to need some players to step up along the way both in the starting rotation and the lineup.
Fortunately, despite the big names being injured, there is still a lot of talent on the reigning American League Champions.
However, they might be relying heavily on one player to carry the load for them in the lineup this campaign.
On Buster Olney’s podcast, he recently spoke with Eduardo Perez about the most irreplaceable players in baseball. Yankees slugger Aaron Judge made the list, and they spoke about his importance to New York.
The reigning American League MVP is coming off arguably the best year of his career and the pressure will be on to perform at an extremely high level once again.
Due to the loss of Juan Soto and the injury to Stanton, Judge is going to be asked to do a lot until some of the young players and new faces prove themselves.
Fortunately, the two-time MVP is one of the best players in baseball. Last year, he slashed .322/.458/.701 with 58 home runs and 44 RBI. He just missed winning the triple-crown with batting average being the one requirement he didn’t lead the league in.
Judge has been pretty durable over the last several years, with 2023 being the only year he missed a good chunk of time recently. However, his absence that season really showed his value to the franchise, with the offense being a mess without him.
Staying healthy and avoiding slumps is going to be key for the reigning MVP this year. As shown in 2023, the team can’t afford to have him miss a significant amount of time.
Furthermore, another good season by Judge might result in him being in consideration for another MVP and perhaps going back-to-back. Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals, who was also mentioned as an irreplaceable player, will give him some good competition, but Judge will likely be the front-runner.
