Aaron Judge Working to Improve Glaring Yankees Flaw

New York Yankees captain Aaron Judge isn't the first player that comes to mind when asked who has skills they need to brush up on. But, the three-time AL MVP enters every Spring Training with a new goal in mind, and this year is no different.

When asked what he's focused on as Opening Day draws near, Judge gave a not all-too surprising answer.

"Definitely baserunning's on my mind this year a lot. I saw a lot of guys around the league with 40, 30 bases that you don't usually normally expect to be running that much," he said.

"Especially with how the game's changed with the pickoffs and the pitch clock, I think that's one way we can utilize — or at least I — can utilize some of my skills a little bit more, getting into scoring position," he continued. "With the lineup we have, this was probably the best offense in all of baseball last year."

Aaron Judge was asked if there's something new he's working on in his game:

"Definitely baserunning's on my mind this year a lot. I saw a lot of guys around the league with 40, 30 bases that you don't usually normally expect to be running that much.

Especially with how the… pic.twitter.com/bj0217bZo3
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) February 16, 2026

Yankees Need to Improve Baserunning

Baserunning was one of the things fans and analysts alike critiques the Yankees for quite a bit last season. Even Aaron Boone agreed that there was room for improvement. While the Pinstripes ranked first in home runs (274) and RBI (820) last year, they appeared to over rely on homers to get the job done.

New York scored a home run in all but 37 games last year, according to Statmuse, but the win percentages are telling. The Yankees were 79-46, a win percentage of 63.20, when hitting homers. However, they were 15-22 with no home runs, a win percentage of 40.54.

While those margins are slim for a 162 game season, being able to successfully run the bases in even one of those games without a homer would have made a big difference. At the end of the 2025 season, the Yankees got the number two seed in the AL playoffs after losing the tiebreaker with the Toronto Blue Jays, who owned the same overall record but won out when the clubs faced off.

Aaron Judge Jokes About Intentional Walks

Judge working on his own baserunning not only sets an example for his own teammates to follow, but proves that the players are trying to improve where they may have failed last season. However, he was also able to laugh at presuming he'd be in a position to run too often.

"If I can find a way to get myself in scoring position, if they're going to walk me or do something, then some good things are going to happen," Judge said, pausing and laughing.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," he added.

Judge would be right to make assumptions about intentional walks, though. He set the AL record for intentional walks last season, with 36. While that's far behind Barry Bonds' record of 120 intentional walks in the 2004 season, the Yankees captain can safely assume he'll face a good few in 2026 as well.

If Judge's work pays off, the Yankees might just reclaim the AL East title once more.

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