Aaron Judge's slump, who shall not be named, risks bringing down the Yankees

In the strange, paranormal world known as Beating, where lucky socks or a borrowed bat are said to carry superpowers, there's an unwelcome five-letter intruder who might as well be referred to as “He Who Shall Not Be Named.” could. Batsmen don't even like to use the word “intrusion” and no less recognize that such an enemy exists, so great are its negative forces.

“I’m not in a crisis,” top hardball sensei Yogi Berra once said. “I just don’t hit it.”

In the worst case, however, a break-in is unmistakable, even if it is indescribable. For Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees, it has become as big as the man himself. It cannot be ignored.

One of the great hitters of this generation can't stay out of his own way. He throws punches and swings at balls. He comes late on fastballs and early on pitch breaks. He has 19 strikeouts in 11 games this postseason, batting .150.

Game 2 of the World Series on Saturday was a new low. Judge struck three times on pitches outside the zone, which was just the 16th time in his career. Again, the Yankees couldn't survive without their captain's positive energy and lost 4-2 to the Los Angeles Dodgers, leaving them two games to nil in the series.

The judge never said the word “burglary” after the game as he parried different versions of the question: What the hell is going on? He didn't have to speak it. As accountable as he was, Judge betrayed one of the root causes of his slump by using the same two words so often, with the emphasis:

“I definitely did must rise. I must do my job.”

“Especially with Gleyber (Torres) and what Juan (Soto) did at the top of the lineup, I did that must support them.”

“They will continue to get on base. I have must drive them in or move them.”

“My boys will continue to pick me up, but I did must Step forward and pick her up too.”

“It's plain and simple. I must Start hitting.”

“Must.” It’s the tell-tale admission of a batsman when pressing. Judge knows how important he is to the Yankees. At age 32, he knows he's been waiting for his pro career to get a chance to play in the World Series. And what's worse, he knows that this October slump will last for years. He is building a legacy of empty postseason at-bats that is becoming increasingly difficult to undo.

In 55 postseason games, Judge is a career .199 hitter making 34% of his plate appearances, about the same as Mike Zunino's career regular season. Judge has sacked 85 times – 12 more times than anyone in postseason history through 55 games (the closest is Cody Bellinger, 73).

Is there a factor, someone wondered, that you can put your finger on?

“Just expanding the zone,” he said. “You know, that’s what really matters. You have to get a spot in the zone and drive it. And if you don’t, don’t try to make a difference.”

It's the obvious starting point. Judge tracked pitches during the regular season at a rate of 18.7%, a career low. In the postseason, it rose to 29.3%. He is 0-for-10 in 34 chases.

But it's more than that. It's mechanical. Manager Aaron Boone talked about Judge not being able to get into his loading position in time to fire off a good swing. He sometimes batted with his feet in a slightly open stance and other times in the neutral stance, which served him well in May as he recovered from his 35-game early-season slump. His momentum is more uphill. He falls over the plate when he misses an out-of-bounds throw, a sign of a balance problem. Teammate Anthony Rizzo suspects a timing problem.

“It’s one of those sections,” as Rizzo called “He Who Will Not be Named.” “You know, I think it just takes a feeling. When you ask (what’s going on), the first thing is probably just timing.”

But there's a mental component that's slowly surfacing: the inability to get out of your “A” swing when the moment is right. He often finds himself in a quandary when making his swing decisions.

I had a specific pitch from Game 2 in mind – a 2-and-0, 94 mph fastball from Dodgers starter Yoshi Yamamoto that froze him in the sixth inning – when I asked Judge if he felt that he had pitches to hit.

“Yeah, 2-0, Yamamoto, I think my third shot,” Judge said. “He kind of gave me a heater. You know, if we're good, we can fire at it. Then the next pitch is a curveball that we foul. I just need to have a little better swing on those two.”

The valley Judge is walking in these days is so deep that Boone was checking pop-ups for signs of life. He said before the game that a pop-up against backup Blake Treinen in Game 1 had the ingredients of a turnaround for Judge.

“He threw me a four-seamer, kind of high and in, and I just missed it,” Judge said. “In this situation I would rather do the work, but I felt better. But like I said, what matters is that I have to do the work.

“We’re getting closer. … I couldn't apply it to this game. You know, like I said, it comes down to you have to be disciplined in my strike zone. That's what put us in this position all year long. So, I just have to get back to it.”

Must. Also praise how well the Dodgers pitched Judge in the World Series. In Game 2, they threw 21 shots to Judge. Only twice did they manage to double within one shot on the same pitch – and each time Judge was deceived and struck out on a chase swing.

Here's how Yamamoto rated Judge on pitch-to-pitch speed variation:

First strike, starting at 96 mph: -16, +17, -10, -8, -7, -1.

Second strike, starting at 80 mph: -5, +21, -10, +9.

Third strike, starting at 95 mph: -6, +5, -18, +16.

This is an exquisite execution with alternating speeds.

Judge is an impactful hitter who is always just a strike away. For example, he broke through his April slump with a home run on May 5 off Tarik Skubal in his first at-bat when he set his feet.

“You have to make your plate this big,” teammate Giancarlo Stanton said, holding his hands together in the approximate shape of a hamburger. “You feel like your plate is so big,” he pushed his hands wide apart, “and you just have to squeeze it. No, it's not mechanical. He will help us win games here.”

Time and opportunity begin to pass. Judge has 55 postseason games under his belt and the pressure is on his shoulders. His team faces a real competitive third game on Monday. He is one of the game's truly great hitters and the emotional fulcrum of this team. He has must do something, and do it quickly. And isn't that how we ended up here, in the land of the unspeakable?