It is hard to blame teams for wanting to intentionally walk Aaron Judge.
The New York Yankees captain enters play on Wednesday having swatted 42 home runs while maintaining a .332 batting average.
Aaron Boone appeared on OutKick’s “The Ricky Cobb Show” and discussed a possible change regarding the intentional walk rule.
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Aaron Boone of the New York Yankees looks on prior to the game against the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago on Aug. 12, 2024. (Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
“This [proposed rule] applies to each batter individually. The first time you intentionally walk him, it’s one base; the second time you intentionally walk him, he gets two bases and everybody moves up two if anybody is on, which obviously you wouldn’t consider it if anyone was in scoring position; and if you want to do it a third time, it’s effectively a triple,” Cobb proposed.
Judge was intentionally walked in the second inning with nobody on base and two outs against the Toronto Blue Jays in a game this month, which spurred the conversation about intentional walks.
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Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees hits a single in the seventh inning against the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago on Aug. 13, 2024. (Quinn Harris/Getty Images)
“I’m with you. So, this has been a topic I’ve been getting asked a lot about, even in my scrums with the media, so I’m like, ‘Eh, I need some time to think about it.’” Boone said. “I agree, I think it’s the biggest moments in the game, you don’t take the ball out of Pat Mahomes’ hands, so I think you should at least have to pitch to them.
If you want to unintentionally walk them, there is an art form to that, and you’ve got to be able to capably do that. I think Major League Baseball has shown over the last several years that they are willing to tweak some rules every now and again, which hasn’t always been the case. I think in this case, you should be forced to pitch to everyone and have the art to be careful about it.”
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Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees takes batting practice before a game against the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago on Aug. 12, 2024. (Matt Dirksen/Getty Images)
As of Wednesday, Judge had been intentionally walked 14 times this season. He was intentionally walked 19 times during his 2022 AL MVP campaign, in which he set the American League record for most home runs during a single season with 62.
Judge leads Major League Baseball in intentional walks this season. The Houston Astros’ Yordan Alvarez is second with 13, while the Boston Red Sox’ Rafael Devers has 12.
The Yankees are in the midst of a series against the Chicago White Sox.
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