It’s time for the New York Yankees to bat Aaron Judge leadoff.
If New York manager Aaron Boone didn’t get the message yet after watching pitchers avoid Judge this month with almost two-thirds of their pitches out of the zone … and if he didn’t get the message after watching 20% of the Yankees’ losses this year end with Judge on deck or in the hole … and if he didn’t get the message after his leadoff hitters—the ones who get the most at-bats—account for the worst of the nine spots in his lineup and the franchise’s worst leadoff OBP since Horace Clarke led off for the 1968 Yankees, then a light bulb should have turned on when Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts announced this week Shohei Ohtani will remain his leadoff hitter when Mookie Betts returns from injury on Monday.
