Aaron Judge is coming off three of the four best years ever produced in major league history — the lone exception coming in 2023, when a toe injury derailed his season, as well as the Yankees.
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And in 2026, he will have another weapon at his disposal that could make him even more dangerous: the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System.
But it’s not just Judge who figures to benefit from the debut of ABS, which will be implemented next year after experimentation in the minor leagues, as well as MLB spring training and the All-Star Game this past year.
Challenges can be initiated by a pitcher, catcher or hitter immediately after a pitch — without any input from the dugout.
Teams will have two challenges per game and will retain them if they are successful.
For years, the Yankees — and to some extent, Judge — have bemoaned the fact the 6-foot-7 slugger gets more than his fair share of balls outside the zone called strikes, especially on pitches that appear to be below his knees.
And Statcast backs that up — and also provides other good news for a potential Yankees lineup next year.
Of 43 players who saw at least 2,500 pitches in the 2025 regular season, Judge had the eighth-most bad calls go against him, a percentage of 2.1 percent.
Ex-Yankee Gleyber Torres topped the list at 2.5 percent with the Tigers.
Two years ago, Judge got the second-most bad calls, while in 2021 Judge “led” the league in the category.
And among the 131 players that faced 2,000 pitches or more this past year, light-hitting Chase Meidroth of the White Sox had the worst luck (3.1 percent), but Ben Rice was second (2.6), with Anthony Volpe tied for 15th (2.2) and Judge and Cody Bellinger tied for 21st.
It’s no surprise that the Yankees should benefit — at least offensively — since they’ve consistently valued patient at-bats and the leaderboard in this category over the years includes players such as Paul Goldschmidt, Brett Gardner, Andrew Benintendi, Matt Carpenter and DJ LeMahieu.
As for the Mets, Juan Soto, Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor have all been victims of plenty of shoddy umpiring, according to Statcast.
What remains to be seen is how aggressive teams and players will be in using the challenge system, since a wasted challenge early in a game, especially from an unreliable player, could haunt a team later on.
“Organizations will have to come up with how they want to use it,’’ said one National League scout who’s seen the system in the minors and thought it was effective, especially at Triple-A last season. “Do you want to be aggressive with it or not? The Yankees are usually good with whatever advancements have happened, but this one is trickier since it’s up to the player. But anything that could help Judge will make them tougher to play.”
On the flip side, the Yankees have prided themselves in recent years in their ability to get their catchers to steal strikes.
Austin Wells has become particularly adept at it and it will remain a valuable skill since MLB isn’t going to a completely automated strike zone.
