Yankees' Aaron Judge Making Rare Position Change at Fenway Park

Aaron Judge may be playing a position he isn't accustomed to when the New York Yankees find themselves at Fenway Park for a pivotal series against the Boston Red Sox. Aaron Boone announced this week that both the captain and Giancarlo Stanton will rotate in left field, just below the Green Monster.

With Aaron Judge protecting his arm and not throwing as well, one of the interesting questions going into the weekend series in Fenway is whether he'll play the very expansive right field, or the much more confined left field, in front of the Green Monster.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) September 8, 2025

According to Fangraphs, Judge has zero Defensive Runs Saved in left and -1 Outs Above Average. He has 40 innings in five games at the position. All of which happened in 2024, with Juan Soto seizing his spot in right.

The first two instances Judge played in left were against the Baltimore Orioles on April 29th and April 30th. He played all nine innings. He returned to left a few days later, on May 1st, against the Orioles again. He didn't play there again until June 6th against the Minnesota Twins. He was moved to the position during the fifth inning of that game. The last time he played the position was against the Toronto Blue Jays on August 4th. He played 10 innings that game.

Judge's defense has been a topic of debate since his return to the outfield. There were two moments in particular where the captain looked cautious on throws he would typically make. The first took place during the Yankees' only loss to the Blue Jays last weekend. Judge caught a ball in right field, and Dalton Varsho tagged up. Instead of throwing to the plate, something he has done many times, Judge hit the cutoff man. Varsho scored.

Today marks Aaron Judge's second start in the outfield since July 25.

Doesn't look like he's uber-confident in his arm strength right now. Completely punted on a potential throw to the plate on this Nathan Lukes sac fly. pic.twitter.com/TSkO4lYIDd
— Daniele Franceschi (@Daniele_Media) September 7, 2025

A similar situation happened again in the finalè. In the top of the second inning, the Blue Jays had a runner on second and third with one out. Nathan Lukes hit a ball to right field. Judge caught it, and as Ernie Clement tagged up from third, Judge, again, hit the cutoff man, Jazz Chisholm. This allowed Clement to score. As Joel Sherman noted in the New York Post, it was a 62 MPH throw, which is 30 MPH less than usual for Judge, whose cannon of an arm has been on display for the majority of his career.

Defensively, playing Judge in left makes the most sense for the Yankees. There is more room to cover in right at Fenway. Cody Bellinger has already shown this week that he can be valuable out there. This weekend, he threw Bo Bichette out at the plate, preserving a win for the Yankees over their division rival Blue Jays.

Make sure to bookmark Yankees On SI to get all your daily New York Yankees news, interviews, breakdowns and more!