Judging the Yankees Without Aaron Judge and Kyle Tucker’s Strange Decline

The Yankees’ lineup is vulnerable to lefties without its captain. Plus, the Dodgers aren’t getting their money’s worth from their $240 million outfielder.

Yankees outfielder Jasson Dominguez has a .229/.265/.396 slash line through 39 games this year, much of which has been spent filling in for Aaron Judge. | Scott Taetsch/Getty Images

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The Yankees entered play Sunday with the fewest wins against winning teams than any team in baseball (15–16). They play their first 22 games out of the break against winning teams, with another six against 2025 playoff teams Seattle and Toronto.
Aaron Judge has missed almost two months with his fractured rib and still is not cleared to begin baseball activities. The Yankees still expect him back before the regular season ends, but it’s beginning to look like a short ramp-up to get him ready for the postseason.

Without Judge—and maybe even with him—the Yankees have a shallow lineup that is vulnerable to left-handed pitching. The Dodgers exploited that weakness Friday by using three consecutive left-handed relievers to lock down a 2–1 win by getting 10 outs while allowing one hit.

Finding a right-handed hitting catcher before the trade deadline should be a New York priority. Ryan Jeffers of Minnesota would be an ideal fit, but the Twins have become a surprising playoff contender that leads the AL in runs per game. The Reds could move Tyler Stephenson, but he’s hitting .192 against lefthanders and is a below average bat. Hunter Goodman of Colorado, who has hit 18 of his 27 homers away from Denver, would cost an enormous price if he were available. The Nationals’ Keibert Ruiz, hitting .307 against lefties, might be a more logical option.

The decline of Yankees catcher Austin Wells is baffling. He can’t hit breaking pitches (.093) and is a .198 hitter over the past two years. 

Yankees catchers are hitting .175, a franchise worst in the live ball era. But the position is a problem around MLB. Three teams this season are getting less than a .180 batting average out of their catchers—as many as in the previous 105 years.

Worst Batting Average by Catchers (Full Seasons Since 1920)

Team	Batting Average
2015 Mariners	.159
2026 White Sox	.168
2024 White Sox	.173
2026 Yankees	.175
2019 Tigers	.176
2026 Phillies	.178

The Strange Decline of Kyle Tucker

Kyle Tucker’s .702 OPS is by far the worst mark of his career. | Brandon Sloter/Getty Images

Including the luxury tax penalty, the Dodgers are paying Kyle Tucker $119.7 million this season, more than the Opening Day payrolls of 11 teams. Ninety-two games into a four-year, $240-million contract, Tucker, 29, has been a huge disappointment. The lack of pop in his bat has been alarming. Tucker has posted career full-season worsts in bat speed (71.3), exit velocity (88.8), hard-hit percentage (39%), rollover groundballs (22.4%), barrel rate (5.8%), two-strike hitting (.165) and runners in scoring position (.247). His frustration sometimes has been evident. Manager Dave Roberts, however, thinks he may be turning a corner.

“The quality of his at-bats the past two weeks has been the best it’s been all year,” Roberts says. “There have been times when he’ll go into the cage after games and work with the hitting guys.”

What also is alarming is how Tucker’s defense and baserunning have slipped. His fielding run value has dropped from 0 last year (52nd percentile) to -3 (22nd percentile), with a noticeable drop in range. His baserunning value and sprint speed continue a gradual decline. He has not attempted a stolen base in more than a month. 

The Dodgers paid an AAV premium to get Tucker on a short-term deal designed to buy his prime years without the cost of a back-end decline phase. This is not the version of Tucker they had in mind.

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