Yankees’ superstar slugger struggling through horrible cold streak

In a closely contested match, the New York Yankees fell to the Milwaukee Brewers 7–6 in extra innings on Friday night, in a game they were poised to win. Despite the loss, Juan Soto provided a standout performance, highlighting his exceptional form this season.

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Struggles and Standouts in the Yankees Lineup

Juan Soto continued to impress, gathering two hits and a home run to enhance his already impressive season statistics. Soto’s performance has been a critical asset for the Yankees, with his batting line now standing at .324/.437/.588. He has consistently been the best player on the team, providing much-needed stability and power to the lineup.

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Conversely, Aaron Judge is experiencing a significant slump, enduring a month-long cold streak that has seen his numbers drop dramatically. Currently, Judge is hitting .178/.317/.356 for the year, with these figures marking some of the lowest in his illustrious career. Despite the small sample size, there’s potential for him to recover his form at any time.

This season, he has hit only four home runs and has driven in 13 RBIs, maintaining a 28.5% strikeout rate and a 16.3% walk rate, which are consistent with his career averages. However, his hard-hit rate has decreased to 52.2% and his barrel rate to 11.9%, both the lowest in the past three seasons.

Urgency for Improvement and Upcoming Challenges

The Yankees rely heavily on Judge, especially as a critical part of their lineup following Soto. The potential of their partnership dominating the batting order is immense, but synchronization has been lacking. On Friday, the top five hitters in the lineup went a combined 2–19, with Soto responsible for both hits.

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Judge’s performance with runners in scoring position has notably declined this year, batting just .190 in these situations, although his on-base percentage remains high at .419 due to an excellent walk rate. His struggle to make quality contact has been problematic, impacting the team’s offensive efficacy.

Despite these challenges, Yankees management remains confident in Judge’s ability to reverse his fortunes and regain his form. As the team prepares for Saturday’s game at 7:10 PM, they are tied for first place in the AL East with the Baltimore Orioles. However, they now possess only the sixth-best winning percentage in the league, trailing significantly behind the Atlanta Braves, who boast a .750 compared to the Yankees’ .630.

Hot news:

Someone, somewhere needs to unplug the new Yankees’ Super Wet road jerseys and plug them back in. Luckily, after months of MLB’s silence, it appears Nike will be up to the task, shouldering the blame for redefining “moisture-wicking” as “creating enough additional visible moisture to drown a horse.”

New York Yankees v Houston Astros / Tim Warner/GettyImages

MLB finally decided this week that their players matter more to them than billion-dollar business relationships when they released a scathing statement condemning Nike’s unnecessary, cheapening changes to the product year-over-year. In said statement, the league admitted that they shared a non-truth when they claimed the pants hadn’t been altered, instead noting that the “seam stitch count” would be returning to the old number as of 2025 (in other words, pants won’t shred anymore).

According to Jeff Passan’s recounting of the internal memo of support MLB sent to its players regarding the 2025 changes: “This has been entirely a Nike issue. At its core, what has happened here is that Nike was innovating something that didn’t need to be innovated.”

No one will be happier to hear that than Yankees left-hander Carlos Rodón who, amid a sterling start to the season, has been lovingly roasted by any and all comers (and his wife Ashley) over the way he turns the Yankees’ new road grays black. Nike will be maintaining their Vapor Premier design for next season, but will be enlarging the numbers, changing the zippers and, perhaps most crucially, “address the new Nike jersey’s propensity to collect sweat.”

Yankees left-hander Carlos Rodón’s sweaty jerseys will be cleaned up, thanks to Nike…in one year

Sorry, Carlos. You’ve got one more year of this dripping wet nonsense.

Other than the ability to turn a darker shade of gray than originally intended, like a Hypercolor spoon you’d get out of a ’90s cereal box, the Yankees’ return to traditional road jerseys — sans-white piping — has been a visual success. If you were waiting to purchase yours until 2025 while you saved up the requisite $400 cash (fix that, too, dillweeds), it seems likely the versions available to the general public will stay materially the same. After all, the breathable design isn’t going anywhere.

The ones players will be handed seem likely to improve significantly year-over-year, though, and that’s what really matters. After all, theirs are the jerseys that are supposed to feel like an accomplishment to obtain, rather than like a rum-soaked sponge covered in buttons.

Now, one more thing. As Tyler Kepner said, please change the All-Star Game jerseys back, too. People will still buy the Home Run Derby Workout Day jerseys. People will most definitely still buy them. As long as they have $400 loose dollars. Dillweeds, all of them.