On Sunday afternoon, the Toronto Blue Jays won their first of four season series meetings against AL East division rival New York Yankees. Now they sit tied with the Yankees for third in the division, six games back of the AL-leading Tampa Bay Rays.

The Blue Jays pitching has had highs and lows to start the 2023 season, but one thing they’ve done well is shutting down the 2022 AL MVP Aaron Judge to an abysmal .167 on-base percentage over the three-game series. And frankly, Judge has struggled against Toronto over the last calendar year.

https://twitter.com/DavidZuber77/status/1650227776362782721

In 83 plate appearances, Judge only has 18 hits and four homers, batting .217, which is the fourth lowest by a Yankees player since the start of the 2022 season. Judge only sits ahead of three players: Josh Donaldson, Giancarlo Stanton, and Kyle Higashioka, who are all batting below .200 against the Bluebirds.

For a player making over 40 million annually, his numbers have been nothing short of pathetic against the Blue Jays. In a 162-game season, he earns approx. $250,000 per game–and in 2022, he played 19 games versus Toronto, which is around 4.7 million of his annual contract. And with only 17 hits against the Blue Jays in 2022, he was hypothetically paid a jaw-dropping $280,000 for each hit.

You don’t have to be a baseball expert to understand how inefficient and lack of value Judge brings to the Yankees when they face the Blue Jays. His numbers sit below strikeout king Joey Gallo and Marwin Gonzalez, who couldn’t even make an MLB roster this year (playing in Japan).

Photo: Keith Allison/WC

Judge looks to be on a path to repeat his woes in 2023, but the two teams won’t meet again until May 15 in Toronto.

With Yankees outfield prospects Estevan Florial, Jake Bauers, and Willie Calhoun tearing it up for the Yankees AAA affiliate–Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders; maybe Aaron Boone and the Yankees management may want to consider sending the 40 million dollar man to the Scranton to earn his stripes against the Buffalo Bisons rotation before calling him up for another 1 for 12 effort against the Blue Jays.