NEW YORK _ Heading into October, it was only natural to wonder if the playoff stage might be too big for Aaron Judge, a rookie facing enormous pressure to duplicate what he did during a 52-homer regular season.
What we discovered Tuesday night, however, was just the opposite. Judge, a 6-foot-7 masher with the baseball IQ to match, tends to rise to the occasion. The greater the challenge, the higher the stakes, the more Judge relishes the spotlight.
A few hours after Brian Cashman drew similarities between the makeup of his hulking right fielder and Derek Jeter, the former Yankees captain, Judge proved the GM spot-on with that assessment. Amid "M-V-P" chants heard early and often, Judge walloped a two-run homer off the Twins' Jose Berrios in the fourth inning, and also reached base twice more in the 8-4 victory that sends the Yankees to a Division Series clash with the Indians.
Judge knew coming in that Tuesday night would be the start of a new chapter, that playoff baseball was when the Yankees needed to shine. While Judge is the slam-dunk Rookie of the Year for the American League, and has a decent shot at the MVP as well, his regular-season resume no longer mattered from this point on.
He talked about the Yankees' retired numbers on the mural behind the left-field bleachers, and how what they did in October helped put them there. As usual, most of any conversation with Judge revolves around the team's goals, and that's the obvious connection Cashman sees with Jeter.
"I think he's been extremely professional about how he's gone about his business, and the focus being on baseball," Cashman said before Tuesday night's game. "One thing Judge has always had is high leadership qualities in the minor leagues that were very similar to Derek Jeter's qualities. Clearly different players and you never want to compare him to a first-ballot Hall of Famer and owner. But on the makeup side there are a lot of similarities there."
That's hard to debate after seeing Judge's introduction to the playoffs, a place he seems as comfortable with as June or September. In his opening at-bat, with the Yankees already trailing 3-0 in the first inning after Luis Severino's nightmarish debut, Judge didn't get anxious following Brett Gardner's leadoff walk. While it would have been easy for Judge to think big and overswing for the fences, he settled down to work the count full, then poked a tough slider into center field for a single.
At his size, Judge can be dismissed at first glance as a merely a power threat. But he's developed into a smart hitter, with a disciplined eye, and that first-inning single to keep the Yankees' rally moving was the perfect example. Despite the early deficit, Judge didn't panic, yet another illustration of how his quiet confidence transfers to the lineup as a whole from the No. 2 spot. Judge didn't freak out during his 46-game tailspin after the All-Star break, when he batted .176 with only seven home runs and struck out once every three plate appearances. But Judge recovered just in time, hitting .314 (27 for 86) over the final 26 games with 15 homers, 31 RBIs and a 1.377 OPS. As much as that pumped up Judge for the playoffs, the Yankees got re-energized as well.
"He's back on track," Cashman said. "It's as simple as that. He found his groove again and that's a benefit to us. Obviously, like anything else, when you struggle it brings questions about a slump you're working through, injury, whatever. The only way to dispel any of that is the narrative with the performance."
No one is doubting Judge now, and the Twins wanted no part of him in the seventh inning when he drew a leadoff walk to spark another run-scoring rally. All told, Judge scored three of the Yankees' eight runs, and drove in another in his playoff debut. Judge still has a ways to go to catch Jeter, who played in 158 postseason games and collected five World Series rings, but that's a terrific start.
The Indians should consider themselves on notice. Containing Judge is now their problem _ a very big one _ beginning Thursday in Game 1 of the Division Series at Progressive Field.
