Letter to the Editor: Yankees fan wants speedy resolution to cable TV dispute causing blackout of games

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Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders start season looking for repeat performance

<p>There&#8217;s no doubt that Aaron Judge is an intimidating presence for any team to have.</p><p>Heck, there aren&#8217;t many pitchers that would want to see the 6-foot-7, 255-pounder stepping into the batter&#8217;s box.</p><p>The outfielder proved last season why he&#8217;s such a dominating figure as he piled up 20 homers in 124 games with Double-A Trenton and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.</p><p>He showed tremendous power, launching several tape-measure taters and toyed with baserunners trying to test his arm when playing right field racking up 11 outfield assists.</p><p>Combine those tools with a smooth but quick stroll and Judge landed on the roster for the USA Team during the Futures Game last year.</p><p>But going hand-in-hand with the peaks are the slides that every player endures at some point. And despite being a highly-rated prospect in the organization by several outlets, and the second-ranked prospect in the organization according to MLB Pipeline, Judge endured a slump during his time last year with the RailRiders.</p><p>Trying to adjust to Triple-A pitching, Judge hit just .224 after hitting .284 with Trenton. His strikeout rate also increased slightly despite playing in two fewer games with the RailRiders than at Double-A.</p><p>It might be a small sample, but Judge primarily struggled with getting around on breaking balls.</p><p>&#8220;I came up here and opposing pitchers were making a lot of adjustments,&#8221; he said. &#8220;And I wasn&#8217;t making adjustments quick enough, and had to make adjustments not only game to game, but pitch to pitch, at bat to at bat.&#8221;</p><p>He spent the offseason in his native state of California working on those issues and he can&#8217;t wait to see how it worked out when the season starts on Thursday. Sure he got some experience in Tampa during spring training, but that&#8217;s still not the at-bats that count.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s going well. I haven&#8217;t played a game yet, gone through spring a little bit and there you&#8217;re still kinda working on it a little bit,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I&#8217;m excited and ready to go.&#8221;</p><p>Judge, still just 23-years-old, has a lot of time to work on the issues since he&#8217;s probably not penciled into the Yankees starting lineup until 2017 when Carlos Beltran&#8217;s contract expires after this season, unless injuries occur of course.</p><p>But, he got valuable experience in Major League camp during the spring. He might have hit just .053 (1 for 19) with 10 Ks in the limited time, but he got to spend time and pick the brains of longtime Major League players and legends who always show up to Yankees camp every year.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s great getting time with those guys, and being with legends like that is always a great opportunity,&#8221; he said. &#8220;So I was blessed to be in that clubhouse for a couple weeks and learn from greats. I got a chance to sit down and talk with Carlos and Alex (Rodriguez) and all those guys. It was great. It was really good.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">RailRiders outfielder Aaron Judge, the No. 2 ranked prospect in the Yankees organization according to MLB Pipeline, s hoping to build off last year&#8217;s strong performance with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_TTL040616railriders3-1-1-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>RailRiders outfielder Aaron Judge, the No. 2 ranked prospect in the Yankees organization according to MLB Pipeline, s hoping to build off last year&#8217;s strong performance with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger|Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_rr_bats3_faa.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">RailRiders outfielder Aaron Judge spent the summer picking the brains of longtime Major League players and legends who always show up to Yankees camp every year. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_rr_bats3_faa.jpg</photo1><caption1>RailRiders outfielder Aaron Judge spent the summer picking the brains of longtime Major League players and legends who always show up to Yankees camp every year. </caption1><photoCredit1>Fred Adams | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Dave Rosengrant</p><p>drosengrant@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Dave Rosengrant at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @tldrosengrant</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders outfielder Aaron Judge hoping to build on last year’s numbers