"Maybe you flip Juan Soto and Aaron Judge" - Alex Rodriguez suggests altering batting lineup to spark Yankees captain out of slump
Alex Rodriguez reckons the New York Yankees should try switching Juan Soto and Aaron Judge in the batting order to get better offensive production from their captain. With the Los Angeles Dodgers have a 2-0 lead in the World Series, Rodriguez feels it will get over quickly if Judge doesn't get out of his postseason slump, with the series heading to the Bronx for the next three games.
Aaron Judge is poised to win his second American League MVP following an outstanding regular season. However, he has struggled in the postseason, even though the Yankees claimed the AL pennant convincingly to end a 15-year drought. Judge has made little impact in the Fall Classic as the Bombers go home to avoid being swept in the World Series for the first time since 1963.
The Yankees lost 4-1 to the Dodgers in Game 2 on Saturday, with Aaron Judge ending the night on 0-4 with three strikeouts. Alex Rodriguez offered his opinion on how to get the Yankees captain out of the doldrums while speaking to Kevin Burkhardt on the postgame show on Fox Sports alongside Hall of Famers David Ortiz and Derek Jeter.
"Maybe you flip Soto and Judge," Rodriguez said. "You try to activate and jump start Judge a little bit. You go (Gleyber) Torres, Judge, Soto.
"Sometimes you're just desperate for runs, you're just desperate to activate the big man," he added.
Aaron Judge has batted .150/.280/.325 in 11 games during this postseason with an OPS of .605. Despite hitting a couple of home runs, he has gone 6-40 in the playoffs with just three extra-base hits and six RBIs.
"If Aaron Judge doesn't get started, it's going to be a short series": Alex Rodriguez
On Saturday, Aaron Judge was announced as the winner of the Players Choice AL Player of the Year, but he had a poor outing on the field in Game 2 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The New York Yankees superstar went 0-4 in the game with three strikeouts, which deepened his ongoing postseason slump.
"The bottomline is, fellas, it's getting late early," Alex Rodriguez said. "And if Judge doesn't get started, it's going to be a short series.
"So when you're desperate, why not have their hottest hitter protect Judge and then you split them and create a matchup problem for the (Dodgers) bullpen," he added.
Clarke Schmidt is expected to start on the mound for the Yankees in Game 3 on Monday night. Meanwhile, there will be another bullpen game for the Dodgers to deal with during their trip to New York.