Tigers vs. Blue Jays Highlights
Can Aaron Judge Hit .400? Yankees Insider Reveals Untold Stories & 2025 Predictions!
Dive into an exclusive interview with Yankees beat writer Randy Miller as he shares untold stories about Aaron Judge's remarkable 2025 season! From his humble roots to his quest for a .400 batting average, we explore Judge's evolution as a hitter, his impact on and off the field, and whether he can achieve baseball history. Plus, get insights on the Yankees' World Series chances and Judge's postseason struggles. Don't miss this deep dive into one of baseball's biggest stars! Subscribe for more sports interviews and analysis! Timestamps: 0:00 Intro to Sportsnaut Interview 0:48 Welcome & Guest Intro 1:44 Aaron Judge Off the Field: Personal Stories 6:06 Judge's 2025 Season: On-Field Dominance 6:56 Can Aaron Judge Hit .400? 14:13 Judge's Impact on Teammates 17:29 Postseason Struggles & Motivation 20:21 Closing Thoughts & Randy's Farewell #AaronJudge #Yankees #MLB2025 #Baseball #Sportsnaut #Hitting400 #YankeesNews #WorldSeries #MLBInterviews #SportsTalk
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Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
Nationals' James Wood becomes 1st player to receive 4 intentional walks since Barry Bonds
Washington Nationals outfielder James Wood entered Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Angels with 22 home runs and was looking for more when he was up at the plate. However, Angels pitchers decided to pitch around him for the most part. Wood had six plate appearances and was intentionally walked four times. It was the first time a batter was intentionally walked four times in a game since Barry Bonds in 2004. The only others to be intentionally walked four times in a game since at least 1955 were Roger Maris, Garry Templeton, Manny Ramirez and Andre Dawson, who received five intentional walks in May 1990. Wood did go 1-for-2 with a stolen base. The Nationals defeated the Angles, 7-4, in 11 innings. Wood has been one of the better players for the Nationals since he entered the league in 2024. He had 31 home runs and 105 RBI with a .274 batting average and a .863 OPS, according to his 162-game average. His numbers have been compared to Juan Soto and Bryce Harper. "Those are some of the best guys to put on a jersey," he said Saturday, via ESPN. "I definitely strive to be guys like that. They've been doing it -- Juan Soto for seven-plus years and Bryce Harper for 12-plus years -- I know I got a long way to go, but it's definitely cool." More importantly, Wood has to help get Washington back into the winning column. Despite the win against the Angels, the Nationals only improved to 35-49. Washington hasn't won more than 80 games since 2019 – the same year Washington won the World Series that year. Wood has been the best player for the Nats, according to his wins above replacement (3.9). Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
USA Today
3 hours ago
- USA Today
Florida is a 'beast': Rays survive elements in Tampa, but can they be road warriors?
BALTIMORE – They are three months deep living in the upside down, in the thick of attacking the ostensibly most challenging portion of their 2025 season. Yet the Tampa Bay Rays believe the hard part is possibly over – and goodness, did they weather it well. With hurricane damage banishing them from climate-controlled Tropicana Field to an insufferable outdoor waystation for one season, Tampa Bay has learned to endure the elements and relish the road and now, they're getting a big dose of bags and buses, charters and lobby coffee. In hopes of mitigating untenable outdoor summer conditions at George M. Steinbrenner Field – where the magnanimous New York Yankees are allowing them to crash this year as Tropicana Field undergoes repairs – Major League Baseball frontloaded the Rays' schedule with home games, the better to play under April showers than July thunder. RAYS IN TAMPA: Sketchbook tour of Rays' temporary home And as the season careens into the second half, the Rays have a home/road schedule split that many would find untenable: Thirty-one games left at home, 47 on the road. But there's fewer pop-up showers that ruin batting practice on the road, only for stultifying tropical air to linger through gametime. There's no wild gusts of wind that can turn an infield pop-up into a warning-track adventure or cause a slider to break in a manner the pitcher does not expect. And most of all, there's not that humidity, the kind that makes world-class athletes cower indoors for as long as possible, the better to save their electrolytes for game time. 'Now,' Rays right-hander Ryan Pepiot tells USA TODAY Sports, 'whoever spends the least amount of time on the field probably has the best chance of winning. You think about football and teams that have the most time of possession tend to win. We want to have the least amount of time of possession. Spend the least amount of time out there, get our guys out of the heat. 'Get off the field.' And get out of town, typically with a win. The Rays, nondescript at best and bedraggled at worst when the season began, have used this first half both to develop an identity and reestablish themselves as an American League power. At 47-37, they're just 1 ½ games behind the Yankees in the AL East, with a firm clutch on the No. 1 wild card position. A mashup of veterans and youth – a largely similar group produced an 80-82 mark last year – has coalesced behind an unlikely trio of young players, a stout and wildly healthy pitching staff and the vibes that come with making the best of a remarkably suboptimal situation. 'It was completely out of everybody's control. You can't decide if a roof gets torn off the Trop or not,' says second baseman Brandon Lowe, who along with slugger Yandy Diaz and closer Pete Fairbanks are the last remaining players from their 2020 World Series team. 'As soon as it happened I was kind of like, 'OK, whatever happens, we found a place to play. We'll make it our own.' 'The circumstances didn't bring us together. I think how close this group already was and how close we could be helped everybody make the transition and do it easier.' And they're likely ushering in another prosperous era for the Rays – at a very uncertain time. Jonathan Aranda powers up It's not just Tropicana Field, which is being repaired by the city of St. Petersburg under terms of the Rays' lease and should be operational in 2026. The much-maligned but pleasant dome will be the Rays' home through at least 2028. Yet the team backed out of a deal for a massive development and stadium project adjacent to the Trop after Hurricane Milton's devastation delayed full approval of the deal. The franchise is now for sale, with Jacksonville developer Patrick Zalupski submitting a letter of intent to purchase the team, and Memphis hedge fund founder Trip Miller aiming to counteroffer. A new buyer would inherit a team with a gaggle of emerging talent. None are as unlikely as first baseman Jonathan Aranda, who had three shots to stick with the Rays from 2022-24 – and could not do it. Aranda found more runway this spring, with a full winter to take advantage of last summer's trade of infielder Isaac Paredes. And Aranda has made himself indispensable. He leads the team with 3.1 WAR and ranks third in the AL in batting (.325) and OPS (.902), his name literally encroaching upon Aaron Judge in both categories. Saturday, he crushed a 467-foot home run, third-longest in the club's Statcast era, a clout that had his teammates clamoring for his addition to the AL's All-Star squad next month in Atlanta. ARANDA 💥 Aranda? He's still grateful for the opportunity to stay on the field, to see his name in Kevin Cash's lineup every day. 'I feel very happy with the confidence the manager and other guys have given me,' Aranda tells USA TODAY Sports via club translator Eddie Rodriguez. 'I'm a confident player and I'm a player that's been waiting for my opportunity. 'Thank God this year, I was able to get this opportunity. I feel very strong and very confident about being here.' It's been a 10-year battle to stick, since the Rays signed him out of Tijuana in 2015. As Aranda methodically climbed the organizational ladder, finally reaching full-season Class A ball in 2019, his best friend from Tijuana, Alejandro Kirk, was zipping through the Toronto Blue Jays system, making his big league debut in 2020. Aranda, 27, is six months older than Kirk and has known the burly catcher 'since I've had a memory.' Now, he may join him in notching an All-Star appearance. His skill set fits snugly into the Rays' puzzle. 'It's a unique situation,' says Aranda. 'We have a little bit of everything: We have power hitters, we have contact hitters, basestealers. It marks the difference between us and 29 other teams.' He's not wrong. The Rays reached the season's halfway mark as just the fourth team to hit at least 85 homers and steal at least 100 bases; one of the three clubs to precede them was Cincinnati's 1977 Big Red Machine. Junior Caminero breaks out If there is a bona fide star in the Rays' midst, it is Junior Caminero, whose widely expected breakout took a minute to get going this season. Caminero, 21, was slashing .240/.273/.432 through his first 32 games. In the 28 games since? He's produced 14 homers and an .892 OPS and had 20 homers by the halfway point, joining Eddie Mathews, Albert Pujols and Cody Bellinger as the lone 21-year-olds to pull that off. The breakout is unfolding. 'I recognize that I have the talent to be here,' Caminero, a Dominican Republic native, says via Rodriguez. 'I don't put pressure on myself. I thank God and I thank Cashy for the opportunity. I'm not paying attention to anything else outside, if they're going to send me down or anything like that. 'I know that I belong here.' As he speaks, veteran outfielder Christopher Morel aims to rattle the young slugger, and Caminero turns and playfully smacks him in the chest. More often, Caminero is playing follow the leader with the Rays' veteran core. 'The team is really united, regardless if you're a veteran or not,' he says. 'I can go to Yandy or B-Lowe or they can come to me and say something. I think that's what's carried us to this point we are now – that camaraderie, that unity we have. 'We go out there to perform and thank God we're where we are right now.' Says outfielder Josh Lowe: 'Whether it's Junior or Aranda, both of them getting their first full chance at the big leagues, it's impressive. Junior got his teeth kicked in a little bit at the beginning of the season. It didn't go as smoothly as he'd thought. And he turned it around. 'Man, he's been incredible. He's a treat when he's in the box, a treat on the field. He's a good person, a good player and man, he puts the work in behind the scenes. He's an awesome kid and I'm happy to see all the success he's had so far.' Jake Mangum becomes indespensible Diaz, Caminero, Aranda and Brandon Lowe have combined for 61 of the Rays' 92 home runs. Yet it is the diversity of the Rays' portfolio that would make them a particularly daunting playoff team. They lead the major leagues in stolen bases with 108, and Chandler Simpson, perhaps the fastest man in the majors, is back in center field after a trip to the minors to work on his defense. Yet it is left fielder Jake Mangum who has seized opportunity and not looked back. Mangum has been slept on since he was patrolling the outfield at Mississippi State in the late 2010s. He was picked in the 30th and 32nd rounds by the Yankees and Mets in consecutive years, swallowed his pride and returned for a senior season in Starkville. By 2019, the Mets saw fit to burn a fourth-round pick on Mangum but dealt him to Miami in December 2022; a year later, he was a player to be named in a five-team deal with the Rays. This March, fate finally intervened: Josh Lowe strained an oblique during the opening week and Mangum, at 29 years old, made his major league debut. He was easy to overlook; Mangum hit just 24 home runs in six minor league seasons. Yet he's a contact machine, striking out just 9% of the time in college and 13% in his first 178 major league plate appearances. Now, he's slashing .316/.354/.392, playing elite defense in left field and is 10 for 11 in stolen-base attempts. They are skills that took a while to be appreciated, especially when 'senior sign' and 'longtime minor leaguer' are difficult tags to shake. 'Sure, did I want to leave college earlier? Yeah, absolutely,' says Mangum, son of former Chicago Bears defensive back John Mangum. 'But there's nothing about my game that jumps off the charts. I'm not like an elite speed guy. I'm a good runner, but I'm not some 80-grade runner. 'I just try to help any way I can, man.' A trade to the Rays, and their come-as-you-are ethos, certainly helped. 'If I tailored my game to pro baseball and wouldn't have made it, I would have lived with a lot of regret,' he says. 'So, I just said, let's play my game and if I don't make it, I'll be able to sleep at night.' Says Cash: 'He has really added a dynamic to our lineup that's been pretty spectacular, special. It's not Chandler speed, but you see the urgency, what middle infielders have to do to get rid of the ball. His ability to put the bat on everything gets taxing for a pitching staff.' 'We want to be here' Now, the Rays attack the back nine of a season that, despite literal storm clouds, has been charmed in many ways. Their phenomenal 27-6 start to the 2023 season was waylaid by a torrent of devastating arm injuries to the pitching staff; this year, they've used just six starting pitchers and their rotation ranks second in the majors in innings pitched and third in WHIP. As for the conditions at home? Well, they made good use of offseason urges to hydrate, recover, and stay out of the heat. 'Well, it's been hot,' says Josh Lowe, dryly. 'It's no secret: Florida in the summertime is a beast. But if you look at our schedule, we're at the halfway point and so 50-plus of those (second half) games are on the road. Not to say we're not going to play games at home, but at least we know that most of our schedule hopefully comes in better weather than playing in Florida.' Indeed, the Rays are six games into a stretch of 16 road dates in 19 games. From July 25 through Aug. 31, they'll play 25 of 33 games on the road, including a 12-game trip to Anaheim, Seattle, Sacramento and San Francisco. Those bay breezes should only accentuate the quality hang time the lads are anticipating. 'We had a goal this year to be a cohesive unit. Not just the pitchers hanging out, not just the hitters hanging out, but just everybody being inclusive,' says Pepiot. 'I think that's shown throughout the season. 'It's felt like a very close clubhouse. We want to be here.' Wherever 'here' may be.
New York Times
3 hours ago
- New York Times
Yankees' Aaron Judge is swinging more than ever and reaping the benefits: Rosenthal
The whole thing seems counterintuitive. Aaron Judge is performing at such a historic level, pitchers should be giving him fewer pitches to hit, causing him to swing less, not more. But that's not how Judge's season is playing out. Judge, 33, is swinging at the highest rates of his career. On first pitches. On pitches outside the zone. On all pitches in general. Advertisement When informed of the various trends earlier this month, Judge seemed surprised. 'What do you mean, 'swinging more?'' he asked. Your swing rate is higher. 'Oh, it is?' Judge replied, in a way that indicated he sincerely didn't know. New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone had the same reaction when told Judge is swinging more. 'He is?' Boone asked. Yep. Judge is the anti-Juan Soto, always on the attack. Entering Sunday, when he hit his 29th and 30th homers of the season, his first-pitch swing rate (35.8 percent), in-zone swing rate (67.9 percent), chase rate (24.5 percent) and overall swing rate (46.4 percent) were all career-highs for a full season. Judge's explanation? 'I usually don't get too many pitches to hit,' he said. 'So if it's going to be the first one, try to be ready. If it's going to be the last one on a 3-2 count, try to be ready. 'It's tough to say. I feel I'm in a good position to hit. If you're in a good position to hit, you're going to swing the bat. At times in years past, if I didn't get to a good position to hit, you're not going to feel good swinging the bat, so you take a lot of pitches.' Judge didn't enter the season thinking, 'OK, I need to try something different.' Why would such a thought even enter his mind? He was coming off his second MVP award in three years. His park- and league-adjusted OPS in 2024 was the 14th highest in history. Not even the boldest coach or analyst would dare tug on Superman's cape and suggest to Judge a more aggressive approach was necessary. James Rowson, in his second year as Yankees hitting coach, said Judge just sort of came up with it on his own. 'More of it, really, is his mindset,' Rowson said. 'He has to stay aggressive in his mindset. If he doesn't, you start to fall into that mindset of, 'They may not pitch to me.' And then you end up missing pitches that you may hit. Advertisement 'I wouldn't tell you we had this long discussion and said, 'You're going to swing more, you're going to be more aggressive.' But I think to his credit, he basically said, 'I have to be aggressive. I can't be passive.' He's trusting his eyes. He's trusting his ability to lay off pitches out of the zone. But he wants to attack the zone.' Even after cooling down in June, Judge still leads the majors with a .356 batting average and trails the Seattle Mariners' Cal Raleigh by only two home runs and two RBIs. Yet, even as Judge pursues the American League Triple Crown and leads the major-league triple-slash categories by considerable margins, pitchers still are not treating him like Barry Bonds. In Bonds' most spectacular four-year span, 2001 to '04, he averaged 71 intentional walks, including his major-league record 120 in '04. Judge is on pace for 35 intentional walks. His overall walk rate entering Sunday (15.1 percent) was his lowest since 2021, and ranked seventh in the majors. Obviously, Bonds and Judge are different. Bonds batted from the left side. Judge hits from the right. And Bonds' alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs altered the perception of his offensive accomplishments. But second-year Yankees bench coach Brad Ausmus, a former major-league catcher who played against Bonds, said Judge's knowledge of the strike zone is reminiscent of his former opponent, who led his league in walks 12 times. 'Barry knew exactly when it was on the plate, when it was too high, when it was too in. Judge is very, very similar to that,' Ausmus said. 'I didn't realize how much he controlled the strike zone. He really, really controls it. And as good as he was last year, he's better at it this year.' The wonder of Bonds was that he might get only one pitch per game to hit, and still hit it out. Judge grew up in Linden, Calif., about 95 miles east of San Francisco. He was 9 when Bonds hit a single-season AL/NL record 73 home runs in 2001; he was 15 when Bonds finished his career with a record 762. Advertisement He sees little comparison between what he is doing now and Bonds was doing then. 'They're still giving me a couple of pitches to hit per night. He would get one pitch a series and hit it to the moon,' Judge said. 'I'm not on that level yet. Hopefully one day. But he's the greatest of all time. I can't compete with him.' Maybe not. Bonds from 2001 to '04 produced park- and league-adjusted OPS figures 159 percent, 168 percent, 131 percent and 163 percent above league average. Judge was 110 percent and 123 percent above league average in 2022 and '24, his two MVP seasons. Entering Sunday, he was 122 percent above league average this season. If he's not Bonds, he's perhaps the current game's closest facsimile, along with the Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani. So why do teams keep pitching to him? Like so much in baseball these days, the answer boils down to a math equation. Ted Williams famously said hitting a baseball is the single most difficult thing to do in sport. Well, hitting today is even more difficult than it was during Williams' time, and during Bonds' time, too. Pitchers today throw harder than ever. Their breaking balls move more sharply than ever. Teams use pitching labs to devise new pitch grips and shapes through technology and analytics. The league batting average entering Sunday was .245. In 2002, the year Bonds hit a career-high .370, it was .261. So, how afraid should pitchers be? 'We always talk about attacking aggression with aggression,' Boston Red Sox pitching coach Andrew Bailey said. 'You have to remember, even though Judge is the best hitter in the league right now, it's still a favorable outcome for you more times than not. 'When a guy like that is swinging, there's more opportunity for chase, more opportunity for a ball in play. Obviously, the power, performance and production is at a historic rate. But still, we have to attack him with aggression.' Advertisement Certain game situations will dictate an intentional walk, as they do for all top hitters. But Bailey said, 'Anytime it's mano y mano, to win the at-bat you have to throw strikes. And your best bet against a hitter like that is to go 0-1, 0-2 as quickly as possible.' The strength of the Yankees' lineup, even without Soto, leaves opponents with only so many ways to avoid Judge. The Yankees lead the American League in runs per game and are fourth overall behind the Dodgers, Chicago Cubs and Arizona Diamondbacks. Judge, batting second or third, has taken 88 plate appearances with runners in scoring position, batting .348. And the hitters behind him are threats, too. 'The guys around me give me an opportunity to hit,' Judge said. 'That helps out, too.' Yes, Judge will chase. Swing-and-miss has always been part of his game. But as Yankees assistant hitting coach Pat Roessler put it, 'If there's a little bit of extra swinging involved, the damage is so great that it's not a problem.' Especially because there is no easy way to get Judge out. Up in the zone is often preferable to the bottom, as was reinforced to the Red Sox's Garret Crochet on June 13 when Judge hit a mammoth game-tying shot in the ninth inning after striking out three times. Crochet's 99.6 mph four-seam fastball, on his 107th and final pitch, was down and in, an area where Judge punishes four-seamers from left-handers. But the pitch was on the black, almost a ball. And Judge deposited it on Lansdowne Street, the fastest pitch he has hit for a home run in his career. 'He's catching some fastballs sometimes a little deeper than normal,' Rowson said. 'And he's catching some breaking balls sometimes a little more out in front of the plate. That's a credit to how long he's in the zone,' 'He gets in the strike zone early with his swing and he stays through it really long, which allows him to cover a multitude of speeds and shapes. You can throw 95. You can throw a changeup or off-speed pitch at 85. He's so good, he's still staying through the zone long enough to contact all of those pitches.' Advertisement Which is how Judge, for the fourth time, has reached 30 homers before the Yankees' 85th game. According to Sarah Langs, that ties Babe Ruth for the most seasons in major-league history with 30-plus homers before his team's 85th game. Funny, when Judge was flirting with a .400 batting average earlier this month, Boone said he didn't sense his right fielder was truly locked in, truly hot. 'I just feel like there have been stretches over the last few years where it's like, this is going to be a homer. I don't feel that way yet this year,' Boone said. 'He's getting his hits. And he gets his homers. But you make your pitches. You get him out.' Boone's words proved ominous. In a 14-game stretch starting June 14, Judge batted .176 with a .645 OPS and only two homers. But on Sunday, he doubled his home-run total for the month. The first, a two-run shot with an exit velocity of 110.2 mph, came on an 0-1 sweeper from the Athletics' Luis Severino. The second, another two-run shot, but at 107 mph, came after Judge fouled off the first pitch from reliever Tyler Ferguson and two more pitches on 1-2 before running the count to 3-2. For the best hitter on the planet, swinging early and often seems to be a good idea.
